<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<title>Medical Malpractice by LinkCat</title>
<style type="text/css">

body { background-color: #ffffff; }
.CI {
text-align:center;
margin-top:0px;
margin-bottom:0px;
padding:0px;
}
.center   {text-align: center;}
.cover    {text-align: center;}
.full     {width: 100%; }
.quarter  {width: 25%; }
.smcap    {font-variant: small-caps;}
.u        {text-decoration: underline;}
.bold     {font-weight: bold;}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25640206">Medical Malpractice</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/LinkCat/pseuds/LinkCat'>LinkCat</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Medical Diaries [3]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Trolls (2016), Trolls World Tour (2020)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Accidental Death, Cannibalism, Diary/Journal, Evil Plans, Evil Twins, F/F, F/M, Family Secrets, Infertility, M/M, Multi, Poisoning, Stone Baby, change of plans, dark secrets, evil doctor - Freeform, fungus</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-08-01</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-09-07</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-05 11:29:10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Mature</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, Rape/Non-Con, Underage</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>30</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>43,503</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25640206</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/LinkCat/pseuds/LinkCat</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Doctor Tourmaline returns and rocks the lives of everyone in the village, city, and ocean.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Biggie &amp; Smidge (Trolls), Guy Diamond/Queen Poppy, King Peppy (Trolls)/Original Character(s)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Medical Diaries [3]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1766938</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>7</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>8</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Not So Happy Birthday</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>This is part 3 of Medical Diaries. Sorry for any mistakes I make. I hope you enjoy!</p>
    </blockquote><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>An incident changes birthday plans.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Five years passed by, since Dickory and Hickory celebrated their thirty second birthday. In that time frame, Goldie gave birth to a baby girl four years earlier, that she named Fluorite, who was light teal like Branch but with glitter, with green and gold two toned hair. She also had a baby boy that looked like Branch, but with glitter two years earlier. They had named him Tanzanite. They were forming a tight bond with Tsunami, who still hadn’t regained his colors. Branch and Goldie had proposed to him, and were due to marry him in a month. Bella had been engaged to Hickory and Faith, and had married them a couple weeks earlier. After not having any more children after her twin girls, Smidge had decided to go off contraceptives, since Hope hadn’t had any children with Biggie. She had a baby boy three years earlier. She named him Jadice. He was a dwarf sized dark green trolling with light green hair. They knew why Hope couldn’t have babies and there wasn’t much they could do for her since her case was challenging. She had a stone baby that required intensive surgery that could kill her. She told her family she would be fine without her own kids. She felt they had enough problems with their own families. Bella and Tsunami were not the only ones that found love. Shamrock and Juniper married a year earlier and were expecting their first child together. Shamrock had happily accepted Petunia and Amaranth as his own children. </p><p>Parsley had a busy day ahead of him. He planned to get a present for Hickory and Dickory in the city. He also wanted to get a ring for Clover, so he could propose to her. Now that the city was closer, he could just fly there on Ruffle in a couple of hours. He had convinced the semi-tame wingdingle to trust him a few years earlier, so that he could help Hickory with his mail deliveries. There was just one problem with going to the city. He had promised Hickory and Faith he would babysit Treasure, Jewel, Peace, and Justice. In order to get to the city and back swiftly, he needed a babysitter. He headed towards Dickory’s home with the four five year old children. He hoped that his uncle would watch them for four hours, while he ran his errand. Once at Dickory’s door, he knocked on it.</p><p>Dickory was doing much better. After five years of counseling, writing daily in his journals, and support from his family, he was functioning at almost normal for him. He was pretty sure he would never go back to the way he was before his father had changed his life. He was in the middle of prepping to make breakfast for himself when he heard the knock on the door. He set his slicing knife down and walked over to the door. He answered it and widened his eyes when all four kids ran inside. He shot a glare up at Parsley. “I’m babysitting for the babysitter, again?!”</p><p>“Hey, two of them are your kids. Besides, you know you love them. Thank you uncle Dickory! I’ll make it up to you when I get back in four hours!” Parsley smirked as backed away. He waved to Dickory, before bolting. He didn’t want Dickory to give the kids back, and he was in a hurry.</p><p>“Hey! On my birthday?! Really?!” Dickory fused his brows as he watched his nephew run off. He sighed and grumbled that he had plans with Silk later. He was getting closer to her recently. He watched Parsley disappear, before closing the door. “Where was I?” He headed back to the kitchen to finish making breakfast.</p><p>In the kitchen, the four trollings had gathered to try and see what Dickory was prepping. The kitchen was smaller, to accommodate the shorter troll. Peace spotted the knife and reached it with his hair. He put it in his hands and smirked. He pointed it at Justice. “I have a sword! En garde!” He started to clumsily swing it around. He didn’t understand the danger he was in.</p><p>“No fair! I don’t have a sword!” Justice complained loudly. He backed away, not wanting to be sliced and diced. He thought it was all pretend.</p><p>Treasure and Jewel backed away. They didn’t want to be in a sword fight. They were hungry.</p><p>“What are you kids doing?!” Dickory headed towards Peace. He didn’t like that he had a knife in his hands. The last thing he wanted was for one of the kids to get hurt. He would be in a lot of trouble for being irresponsible with him, even though he didn’t know the kids were coming in the first place.</p><p>Peace squealed, before running away from his father with the knife in his hands. He began searching for a place to hide with his new toy.</p><p>“Peace! Give the knife back! You could get hurt!” Dickory grunted as he came around the corner. “Now young man! I’ll put you in the corner if you don’t listen!”</p><p>Peace shook his head, before rounding his way back towards the kitchen. He dodged his father as he tried to grab him with his hair. “Daddy is playing chase!”</p><p>“Now Peace! Or no dessert for the next week!” Dickory scolded his son. He was very worried that he would fall on the knife. It was long and very sharp.</p><p>Peace turned around when dessert was mentioned. He didn’t want to miss out on that. As he turned around, he pointed the knife in an upward position.</p><p>Dickory didn’t react fast enough to Peace suddenly stopping. He rammed right into the knife at full speed. He yelped in pain and looked down at the handle of the knife. It was sticking out from his abdomen. “Not good…” He pulled it out in a panic, not realizing it wasn’t a good idea. He put the knife on the kitchen counter, out of reach of the children, and then hurried for the phone. He had his hand on his knife wound. He wasn’t bleeding badly on the outside, so he thought he was going to be OK. Once he reached the phone, he began to feel dizzy. He was bleeding profusely from the inside. His organs began to slip out of his body from the wound as he picked up the phone. He began to dial for the medical pod. He had one more number left, when his world began to fade black. He whispered sorry, before falling to the ground. Moments later, he died from blood loss.</p><p>Peace looked perplexed. His father was acting strangely. He followed him to the phone, and watched him fall. He cocked his head and whimpered. “I want dessert…” He had no idea that he had just accidentally killed his own father.</p><p>For the next four hours, the children had tried to arouse Dickory. At some point, they grew hungry. Treasure and Jewel ate some of Dickory’s candy and a slice of hard boiled egg from out of the fridge. Peace and Justice had other interests. They had played in Dickory’s blood for a little while, before discovering his wound. They worked together to pull out some of the contents and tasted some of the blood and gore. The hungry boys were not bothered by the taste.</p><p>When Parsley returned, he knocked on Dickory’s door. He had a sack full of fresh fudge for his uncle, to make up for ditching the kids on him. He smiled when Treasure answered the door. “Hey, did you kids have fun?”</p><p>“No! Uncle Dickory yelled at Peace and then took a very long nap! I was so bored!” Treasure sulked as she hugged into Parsley. She was happy to see him.</p><p>“A nap? He said he was busy.” Parsley frowned and stepped into the home. The smell of blood filled his nose, which worried the seventeen year old troll. As he came around the corner and saw Dickory, he froze and dropped the sack of fudge to the ground. “Oh my god!” He glanced at the boys, Dickory, and the phone. He thought Dickory killed himself. A sense of guilt filled him. “Come on kids, we need to get you to the bunker.” He picked up the four little ones into his arms and hurried towards the bunker. His first priority was to take care of the children.</p><p>“Uncle Dickory didn’t wake up.” Jewel complained as she was carried towards the bunker. She didn’t understand.</p><p>Peace and Justice suckled on their bloodied fingers. They had little concept of what was going on either, but there was one thing they knew from the morning events. They loved the taste of blood. They wanted more of it.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. A Family Mourns</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>An investigation immediately begins to figure out the cause of Dickory’s death.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>As soon as Parsley was in the bunker, he carried the trollings to the main living space, where the birthday party was being set up. He had tears in his eyes and had faded gray in grief. He set the kids down in front of Faith and whimpered. “Mom, there was a terrible incident. I need to talk to you away from the kids.” He took her hand and hurried towards the bedroom with her.</p><p>“Parsley?! Why are the boys covered in blood?! Are they hurt?!” Faith looked alarmed as Parsley dragged her to the bedroom. Something bad was obviously wrong and she wasn’t amused that he was taking her away from the twins.</p><p>“I left them and the girls with Dickory while I ran to the city. When I came back, I found him in a pool of blood in his living room. I think he killed himself. He wasn’t breathing...” Parsley began sobbing. He put his face into his hands and trembled. He thought Dickory was doing better. He didn’t understand why he would kill himself.</p><p>“Oh my god…” The color left Faith’s face. She had a hard time believing Dickory would kill himself. He had talked about Silk the day before, and it sounded like he was ready to propose to her. “I don’t think he killed himself sweetheart. I’ll go back over there and see what happened.” She gave him a hug and held him for a few minutes. It was clear that he was very upset. “I know sweetheart.” She soothed him gently as he cried. She remembered when he was just a little boy, terrified and snuggled up to her for comfort. She was pretty sure this brought back some excruciating memories. After holding him for a little bit, she broke her hug with him. “I need to go see what happened sweetheart. Stay here and help with the children. Looks like the boys need a bath.” She headed out the door and went straight for Dickory’s home.</p><p>Parsley watched her go, and then went to take care of Peace and Justice, since they were bloody. He said nothing else to anyone, even when he was asked why the boys were covered in blood. He was shaking and not sure he could tell anyone else. He also thought he was in a lot of trouble for leaving.</p><p>Once at Dickory’s home, Faith walked in and went into his living room. She was met with a gruesome scene. Peace and Justice had pulled out his organs and made a large mess. She shuddered when she saw that there were bite marks on some of his internal organs. She hoped those babies were not trying to eat Dickory. It was clear that he had accidentally ran into something sharp and had been disemboweled. She picked up his phone and saw that he had tried to dial for the medical pod with his bloody finger. She cringed, realizing he had been one number off. She set the phone down and followed the blood trail over to the kitchen. She found the bloody knife there, on the counter. She wondered if he might have slipped while making breakfast. She saw the food on the counter. She knew the children might tell her what happened if she asked. Once she was sure that it was an accident, she left to get King Peppy. She knew he would want Dickory’s death investigated, just in case someone may have murdered him instead. She glanced around as she walked towards the palace. She was on edge. Dickory’s injury struck a nerve for her.</p><p>For the next six hours, King Peppy ordered an autopsy, had trolls investigate Dickory’s home, and helped set up the funeral. The day was supposed to be full of celebration, to celebrate Dickory and Hickory’s birth, but instead, they were burying Dickory and mourning his loss. They all felt that he was far too young to leave them. He still had a long life ahead of him. They were devastated.</p><p>Hickory was extremely upset. He had a tight hold of their father’s blue seashell. He couldn’t believe that his brother was gone. They had just talked about a possible wedding with Silk the day before, when they celebrated Peace and Justice’s fifth birthday. Once he was next to his brother’s casket, he felt the inside of the casket. He could feel his brother’s cold hand. He put his hand on Dickory’s hand and teared up. “I know we fought a lot, but I loved you far more than you probably knew. I’m going to miss you so much big brother.” Tears streamed down his grayed cheeks as he tucked the shell under Dickory’s hand. He had no plans of keeping it. He then walked away with his white cane. He startled when Bella pulled him into a hug. He sobbed inconsolably. He wanted a restart to this awful day, so he could save his brother. “I don’t want to celebrate my birthday ever again…”</p><p>“Don’t talk like that Hickory. Your birthday is special. None of us want that to go away.” Bella held her grieving mate. She knew all too well how much it hurt to lose a loved one.</p><p>“It’s never going to be the same again. I know sweetheart. I’m here for you.” Faith held Hickory close and frowned. She understood it, but did agree with Bella. She wasn’t ready to change Hickory’s birthday. Death was rotten, but Hickory was still alive and needed to live.</p><p>“I don’t know. It hurts…” Hickory snuggled with his mates and let the tears roll down his cheeks. He wasn’t ready to celebrate anything and was sure he wouldn’t for a while after what had happened.</p><p>Silk was the next to walk over to Dickory’s casket. Satin, Chenille, and Wind were right next to her. Tears ran down her cheeks as she placed a flower across his chest. “We talked about spending the rest of our lives together. I didn’t think it would be this soon. I’m going to miss the great man you became Dickory. You grew up for us all and proved that even the hardest times can be survivable.” She sniffled and choked out a sob. She knew he had been through a lot more then most of them knew. He had shared a lot with her. “I love you Dickory. Give Dusk some sugar for me and tell him all about his daughters and son.” For the second time in her life, she had lost a mate. She wasn’t sure she could ever try to find love again.</p><p>Mercy walked over and pulled Silk into a hug. She held her as Silk cried over her shoulder. She had become closer as a sister to Dickory for the last five years. He was going to be missed tremendously.</p><p>As the funeral came to an end, Dickory's casket was lowered down into the soil, buried, and a stone was put in place. Afterwards, the grieving family headed back to their homes. They had originally had plans of celebrating two birthdays, but Hickory had made it extremely clear that he didn’t want his birthday celebrated that night. He needed time to process what just happened, and to grieve before he even considered another party.</p><p>A short distance away, Tourmaline was watching trolls leave Dickory’s gravesite with a pair of binoculars. A snort escaped him. “I knew he was weak.” He watched as Faith escorted Peace and Justice. He knew they were his children and grandchildren. He was hoping to get a hold of them soon, but he had to wait for the right time. He was willing to wait. He didn’t want to get caught, so he had to be patient.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Young Babysitters</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Princess Poppy, Prince Sassafras, and Guy Diamond go for a walk with some of the children.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>For the next week, most of the trolls were quiet. It didn’t take long for them to find out that Peace had ran around with a knife, and was the cause of Dickory’s accidental death. It gave them a sense of uneasiness. Several of the trolls knew that Dickory was held captive and raped. They quietly hoped that Peace hadn’t killed his father maliciously, although he wasn’t old enough to do so. Their concerns only grew during the week, because Peace and Justice demanded what they had found all over next to their father. Of course their demands were not met and they were forced to eat what everyone else ate. </p><p>During lunch, Peace threw a tantrum. He really wanted some blood and gore. He threw his bowl off the table and then plopped onto the ground. He screamed and kicked his legs. He was hungry and no one was giving him the blood and gore that he wanted.</p><p>Faith rubbed her temples and sighed heavily. “I’m so sorry, Goldie.” She got up and began cleaning up the mess. It had taken all of her patience not to snap at Peace or Justice. They reminded her of Dickory, before his captive. She wasn’t surprised that they had their father’s attitude and temper.</p><p>“Aunt Faith, Poppy and I were going to go for a walk. Maybe I can take some of my cousins with us?” Guy Diamond could see that Faith was stressed. The eleven year old trolling was starting to train to be king and had been babysitting kids since he was nine, within the territory. He was sure they would be alright going on a walk to get some of the pent up energy out. “We can pick some spring onions while out.”</p><p>“That sounds like a great idea. They can play tag while you pick onions.” Goldie loved the idea. She helped Peace onto his feet and nudged him towards Guy Diamond. “Go take a walk with your cousin.”</p><p>“I want the yummy stuff.” Peace rubbed his eyes and sulked as he stumbled towards Guy Diamond. He was cranky from not eating well. He was handling the lack of fresh blood and gore worse than Justice.</p><p>Justice got up from the table and followed Peace. He was slightly more passive than his brother and always followed his lead.</p><p>“I’ll take good care of them.” Guy Diamond led Peace and Justice towards the door. He chuckled when Humble, Petunia, Treasure, and Jewel followed him. He cringed when more cousins followed. “Just six this time guys. I’m sorry.” He hurried out of the door with the little ones he had. He didn’t want to have too many kids to watch.</p><p>Faith giggled and led the others who had followed back towards the kitchen table. “Next time little ones. Cousin Guy is still getting used to babysitting.”</p><p>Guy Diamond headed for the palace with the six five year old trollings. Once he arrived, he knocked on the door and waited for an answer.</p><p>King Peppy answered the door and laughed when he saw that Guy Diamond had six of his cousins in tow. “Looks like you have shadows with you today.”</p><p>“Yes, aunt Faith was in need of a break. Is Princess Poppy ready?” Guy Diamond smiled when he saw Poppy scramble towards them with her backpack.</p><p>“We’ll be back in about an hour, dad. I love you!” Poppy stood on her tippy toes and gave her dad a kiss on the cheek, before heading out the door.</p><p>“Wait! With that many kids, I want Sassafras with you two.” King Peppy looked back. “Sassafras! Go with your sister!”</p><p>Sassafras was in the middle of reading a medical journal when he heard his adoptive father. He set the journal down and grabbed his backpack. “Of course, papa.” He smiled as he followed Poppy out the door.</p><p>Guy Diamond smiled when Poppy came outside. He sighed heavily when King Peppy called for Sassafras. He didn’t think he needed help and he had silently hoped he could give Poppy a kiss. He knew he wouldn’t be able to do that if Sassafras was with them. He pretended not to mind as he took Poppy’s hand. He began leading the walk.</p><p>Sassafras took the back, so he could watch the five year olds. He stayed quiet. He could see that his presence annoyed Guy Diamond, but he was going to obey his father. Life since his adoption had been great. He didn’t want to upset his parents.</p><p>About fifteen minutes into their walk, Guy Diamond stopped at a spring onion and began to pull it out. He got it out and stuck it into his backpack. Poppy helped him. They knew the spring vegetables would feed several trolls.</p><p>Sassafras wanted to help, but the children were restless. He played with them instead.</p><p>The walk with the little ones didn’t go unnoticed by Tourmaline. He wanted Peace and Justice, but was happy to capture all of them. He prepared tranquilizers for them all. As soon as he was all set, he shot Sassafras first, since he was the closest to the children. He then quickly hit Poppy and Guy Diamond with the tranquilizers. After the older three kids were hit, he hit each of the five year olds, until all nine children were hit.</p><p>Sassafras didn’t know it was coming. He thought a bee stung him. He quietly grabbed the dart and frowned when he saw it. “What on earth?!” He whimpered when he felt the effects of the sedative right away. He fell over with a thud, without making any other sounds.</p><p>Poppy screeched when she got hit. She pulled the dart out and looked at the kids. “Run and hide!” She fell over seconds later. She was out cold.</p><p>Guy Diamond tried to run to the kids. He didn’t make it far, before faceplanting into the dirt. He was soon out cold too.</p><p>The rest of the children also panicked, but none of them could resist the effects of the sedatives. They were all soon out cold.</p><p>Tourmaline waited until all of the children were passed out, before coming out. He put them into a cart he had hidden nearby, before heading towards his hiding place in a cave. He had dark plans for these children, and he was even more delighted that he got a hold of the prince and princess. His revenge was coming together nicely. He looked forward to torturing and killing anyone who came looking for the children. He already had a small army hidden away, that he had brainwashed to follow him. He was sure he was unstoppable.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. A Little Speed Grow</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Tourmaline begins to torture the older children.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>At Tourmaline’s cave, the sixty year old insane doctor walked his way towards the back, where his dug out bedroom was. He had tunnels along the cave that were marked with torches, so that his minions and himself could find their way around the cave to various rooms and hideouts. He parked the cart next to a fire pit and unloaded the older children. He gave each of them a series of injections to help promote growth and fertility. He didn’t want them fighting him about it after they woke up. Once that was done, he pulled the younger children off the cart and settled them next to each other for warmth. He didn’t want them to die. His biggest priority with them was to train them and wait for them to grow. After they were settled, he started a fire, to warm up the cave. It had become chilly there during his absence. He told everyone who came in to check out the children to go away. He wanted his first night with them alone.</p><p>Princess Poppy was the first of the trollings to wake up. She whimpered when she realized that they had been kidnapped by an elderly troll. She stumbled to her feet and headed towards where she thought the exit was. She could see they were in a cave and that it was mostly dark within it. She wondered how far into the cave they went. She wasn’t even sure which cave they were at. There were several in the vicinity.</p><p>“Good luck finding your way out of here princess. This cave is full of mazes. You could end up outside, but you could also end up in the claws of a hungry bat, the hands of one of my bored minions, or slip into an acid pool. I wouldn’t gamble if I were you.” Tourmaline got up and got ready to go after her if she did try to leave. He had plans with her. “Besides, do you really want to leave these kids? You don’t know what I have planned with them.”</p><p>Poppy hesitated, before coming back. She was worried about Guy Diamond, Sassafras, and the younger children. She didn’t want any of them hurt. “What do you want with us?”</p><p>“Good girl…” Tourmaline grabbed her and headed towards his bed with her. “I want to get revenge for what your grandfather did to me.” He stopped next to the bed and looked at her. “You’re going to do what I say, and if you cooperate, you’ll live and I won’t hurt the children. If you fight me, I’ll make your life a living hell, before I kill you.”</p><p>Poppy trembled in fear as she was led towards a bed. She didn’t know what he meant by what her grandfather did. She never met him. He had died before she was born.  “What do you want me to do?”</p><p>“Do what I say and don’t scream. If you scream, I’ll kill one of the little ones.” Tourmaline undressed her and nudged her into his bed. “Lay down.”</p><p>Poppy laid down in the bed. She was confused. She didn’t know why he had her lay down.</p><p>Tourmaline was a green glitter troll, so he didn’t have to underdress. He slicked his grayed hair back out of his face, before getting onto the bed. He got into position and pushed his swollen length into the eleven year old trolling. He began bucking his hips. He didn’t stop, even when he felt her blood collect around his nethers. </p><p>It took everything in Poppy not to scream in pain. Every fiber of her being felt like it was tearing and on fire. Tears ran down her cheeks as the elderly glitter troll raped her. She looked over to where her brother and boyfriend laid. She was terrified beyond words and wasn’t sure what she was going to do. She wanted her mama and papa.</p><p>Guy Diamond woke up shortly after. He heard the movement nearby and got up. He came stumbling over and sneered. “Get off her! You’re making her cry! What the hell are you doing to my girlfriend!?” He tried to pull Tourmaline off Poppy.</p><p>“You’re next! Fight me and I’ll kill your little girlfriend!” Tourmaline grabbed Guy Diamond and got up. He nudged Poppy back over to the other kids and then got to work on raping Guy Diamond next.</p><p>Poppy held herself and hurried over to the wall. She had needed to pee that whole time but held it in fear that peeing on him would make it worse. She couldn’t find a bathroom, so she squatted away from them all. She watched as blood tinged urine pooled under her. It stung as she urinated. She hoped that Tourmaline wouldn’t rape her again. It was so painful to her. She silently said a prayer, because all nine of them needed help. She wondered that her parents would ever find them down there.</p><p>Guy Diamond closed his eyes tightly as he was raped. He wasn’t sure what he was going to do either. He was still groggy. He hoped that his parents would go looking for them. He was absolutely petrified.</p><p>While Tourmaline raped the heir and her betrothed, Faith was the first to notice that the children had been gone far too long. She gathered her things and got ready to go. Before she left, Branch and Sky stopped her. She looked at them and frowned. “I have to go find them. They could be lost.”</p><p>“We’ll help you find them.” Sky quickly wrote a note to their family, to let them know he was going out to find the children, before grabbing some supplies. Once he was ready, he headed towards the door.</p><p>Branch grabbed some food and medical supplies, and joined his brother’s side. “Let’s go find them.” He hoped they were alright. It wasn’t like Guy Diamond to take off for hours. He had taught him to follow trails and back track if he got lost. He didn’t think his son was lost.</p><p>Faith gathered a few more supplies, before leading her twin brother in laws out the door. She knew Humble was with them. She had to go find them. She knew Humble was extra special to Bella, because he looked just like his father, Magnus. She hoped nothing bad happened to any of them.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. Protective Boys</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Guy Diamond and Prince Sassafras try everything in their power to protect Princess Poppy.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Some time after Tourmaline had satisfied his urge to mate, he left the older children alone to check on the kids. They were still asleep, because they were given a lot of sedative for their age and size. He made sure they were alright, before leaving them to rest. Not longer after, he noticed the puddle on the ground near his wall. “Which one of you pissed in my room?!” He hurried over to the three kids and let a rumble escape deep within his throat. He was livid that one of them peed on his floor.</p><p>Poppy startled when he came towards them. She didn’t want to admit that she was the one that could no longer hold her pee. Tourmaline had her petrified beyond words. She had watched him do the same thing he did to her, to her brother and boyfriend. She was worried about them, but was afraid to talk.</p><p>“I did it sir. I couldn’t find the bathroom.” Guy Diamond lied, in an attempt to protect Poppy. He didn’t need to go yet. “I’m sorry…” He kept himself between Tourmaline and Poppy. He didn’t want him to rape her again.</p><p>“Where is the bathroom?” Sassafras was getting uncomfortable. He had been the last of the three to be raped and had torn a little bit, just like Poppy had. He wanted to clean up his private area and go pee.</p><p>“It’s back there, behind that wood door! Lazy son of a bitch!” Tourmaline went to smack Guy Diamond, when he saw that Poppy was in tears. He glared at Guy Diamond. “You’re lying! You’re not bleeding and there was blood on the fucking floor! For that, she’ll be beaten severely, and it will be all your fault!” He grabbed Poppy and led her over to the puddle. “Clean it up! Now!” He threw a towel on the puddle and shoved her towards it. He kicked her a few times while she was down. He wanted to show them that he wasn’t going to put up with childish behavior. He also wanted them so scared that they would submit to him, so he could control them.</p><p>Poppy whimpered when she was led away from Guy Diamond and Sassafras. She trembled as she quickly went to work on wiping up her bloody urine. She couldn’t help but cry out in pain when he kicked her. She tried to work faster, so the beating didn’t last as long.</p><p>Guy Diamond followed Poppy and tried to help her. He whimpered when Tourmaline shoved him away and kicked Poppy. He tried to fight back. He didn’t want Tourmaline to hurt Poppy anymore.</p><p>Sassafras got between Poppy and Tourmaline. “Stop hurting my sister!”</p><p>“All three of you are asking for a beating!” Tourmaline grabbed a hanger and began smacking all three of them, until they were covered in bruises. Once he was done, he left them to cower next to each other. He could hear that the little ones were awake.</p><p>Humble was awake and snuggled up to Petunia. He felt weird because of the sedative. He looked up when Tourmaline walked over. “I want my mama…”</p><p>Treasure was also awake and had just puked on herself. She rubbed her eyes and cried. “My tummy hurts!” The sedative had upset her stomach.</p><p>“Son of a bitch! Poppy!” Tourmaline yelled for the young princess. He glared at her when she came running over. “Clean her up! You’re going to take care of these kids for me...” He grumbled that he was hungry. He left them to go find something to eat.</p><p>Poppy led Treasure over to the bathroom to help her. She hurt all over, but Tourmaline had already scared her into submission. She was afraid that if she didn’t take care of Treasure, he would beat her again or rape her again.</p><p>Guy Diamond walked over to the puke and began to clean it up. He watched Poppy go into the bathroom. He felt helpless to protect her. So far all his ideas to help, only made things worse.</p><p>Sassafras walked over and sat with the children. He blinked his only eye a few times. Vision in it was blurry from being poked in the eye when he was raped. He was worried that Tourmaline might remove his only eye. The nasty doctor had mentioned that he could do it so his face matched. He didn’t want to lose his sight.</p><p>Several minutes later, a nineteen year old yellow troll, named Banana, with cream and white two toned hair and light yellow eyes came in. He was deaf and mute. He set a tray full of food on the table and looked at the children. He frowned and looked down. He felt sorry for these kids. He knew how hard it was the first week with Tourmaline. He was relentless when he beat trollings and young trolls into submission.</p><p>Sassafras was hungry. He reached over to grab a piece of bread. He widened his eyes when Banana grabbed his arm. “I’m hungry…”</p><p>Banana shook his head and pointed to the children. He didn’t want Sassafras to be beaten more than he already had.</p><p>“Is the food for the little ones?” Sassafras inquired with a confused expression on his face.</p><p>Banana read his lips. He nodded slowly and frowned when he saw Tourmaline from the corner of his eyes. He quickly hurried out, before he faced Tourmaline’s wrath for being around the children too long.</p><p>Tourmaline came back and settled next to the children. He didn’t say anything to Banana. He didn’t bother, knowing the young teenager was deaf and mute. He had spared the young troll because he cooked delicious food. He had also decided he would be a decent breeder for his army. He began feeding the children bread, cake, liver, and juice as they woke up. After they were done, he gave them candy. He wanted them to like him, so he planned to spoil them.</p><p>Once Treasure was cleaned up, Poppy cowered in the bathroom. She startled when Guy Diamond joined her in there. She wasn’t sure when this nightmare was going to end. Help wasn’t coming fast enough for them.</p><p>Guy Diamond snuggled into Poppy and closed his eyes. He hurt all over, but was determined to try to protect her. It wasn’t going to be easy, but he wanted her safe.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0006"><h2>6. A Rescue Gone Wrong</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Several families go out looking for the missing children.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The next morning, Branch, Sky, and Faith were still looking for the children. All three of them were very worried about them. They had gone all night away from home. They were too young to be out overnight. Parsley soon joined the group. He landed Ruffle next to them and frowned when he saw that the children were not with them. “You haven’t found them yet?!” He looked very worried now. Branch was an excellent tracker.</p><p>“I’ve checked all my trails, but the one we are on now. If they are not this way, I’m afraid we may have lost all nine of them.” Branch looked sad. If Poppy and Sassafras were both gone, their royal dynasty would come to an end and an opening to royal position would open up once King Peppy and Queen Lily retired. This was not good news for the village. It could mean a potential civil war.</p><p>“This is my fault. I shouldn’t have let the kids overwhelm me, and now they’re all in danger, or worse.” Faith looked very worried. She didn’t want to think of what could have happened to all nine of those kids.</p><p>“Don’t blame yourself, Faith. Guy was just trying to help, like a good boy.” Sky had his own concerns. The children could have certainly been picked off by a predator or been kidnapped. Either way, it wasn’t looking good for them.</p><p>“Let’s go down this trail. Maybe we will find clues.” Parsley looked around. He was worried about those kids. Dickory’s sons were his only children and he had only recently died. He hoped that his babies didn’t join him in heaven. They were far too young.</p><p>A short while later, Branch spotted some of Guy Diamond’s glitter on the ground. He frowned and glanced around. “Guy panicked here. He dropped some glitter.” He spotted tire tracks from Tourmaline’s cart. “Looks like they were kidnapped! I’m going to go get help.” He went to leave so he could get help. He was three months pregnant, so he didn’t want to be in a scuffle with any potential kidnappers.</p><p>A group of Tourmaline’s minions were out when the four worried parents came over to where the children were kidnapped. A muscular, light brown troll with black hair and gold eyes by the name of Digger, came down from a tree and grabbed Branch from behind. A struggle followed. He bashed Branch’s head against a tree, knocking him out. He let Branch fall down, and then grabbed Sky when he ran over to help his brother. “Damn, it’s twins.” He grunted as he swung Sky into the same tree. He kicked him a few times and growled. “Stay down, before I knock you on your ass again!”</p><p>Sky groaned and held his arm. Digger had dislocated his shoulder when he swung him into the tree. He was in a lot of pain.</p><p>While Branch and Sky were taken down, a red troll with pink and white two toned hair and pink eyes, by the name of Racer, charged Parsley. He tackled him to the ground and held a knife to his throat. “You four are now our prisoners!”</p><p>“Let me go!” Parsley demanded angrily. He wanted to be free to get help. He knew Ruffle would make it so he could get help faster.</p><p>A tan troll, named Buck, who had white and brown two toned hair and brown eyes tried to get a hold of Faith, but she was proving to be a formidable opponent. “Damn, I got me a fighter.” He struggled with her for several minutes, before kicking the back of her knee. He sat on her when she fell over. “There we go. Just needed to get her down. Scrawny little thing.” He laughed when she growled at him. “Feisty. That’s how I like them.”</p><p>“Get off me, you inbred!” Faith snapped angrily as she struggled under his weight. She didn’t like being manhandled and Buck was already giving her very unpleasant vibes. She feared not only for their lives, but for the lives of the children. She had a feeling, these three trolls were the kidnappers.</p><p>Ruffle was agitated that Parsley was pinned down. He flew down there and charged towards Racer with an angry squawk.</p><p>Racer quickly bashed Parsley hard in the head to knock him out, and then dodged the large predatory bird. He grabbed Ruffle by the neck and slit his throat deeply. He let him go and watched as blood gushed from the wingdingle’s throat. “Baked dingle dong dandy for dinner tonight boys!” He smirked when he heard Faith scream. “What?! Don’t like some dingle?!”</p><p>“That was my husband’s pet! You asshole!” Faith watched as Ruffle succumbed to his injuries. Rare tears ran down her cheeks. That bird had saved so many lives and was so important to Hickory. It was going to be so hard telling him that his buddy was gone. “You’re going to pay for killing him!”</p><p>“Shut your mouth!” Buck smacked Faith upside the head. He began tying her up so that she was easier to handle. Once she was tied up and her mouth was taped, he picked her up and walked over to Branch. He picked him up and headed for the cave with them.</p><p>“You’re carrying two of them? Show off…” Racer picked up Parsley and followed him. </p><p>“He’s trying to show off for the boss.” Digger grumbled as he pushed Sky after them. “Move your skinny ass! I’m not carrying you!”</p><p>Sky got up and tried to run. He didn’t make it far, before Digger tackled him to the ground. He hollered in pain from his dislocated shoulder. He held his arm and closed his eyes tightly, before screaming for help. He knew the chances of anyone hearing him was slim, but he had to try.</p><p>“Big mistake!” Digger pulled out some tape and smacked a piece onto Sky’s face over his mouth. He began beating him. After Sky was clearly bloody and bruised, he made him stand and shoved him towards the cave. “Move your ass!” He grabbed Ruffle’s carcass and began dragging him towards the cave.</p><p>Sky stumbled on his feet, and then began to walk where he was shoved. He was in a lot of pain, so he refrained from fighting any further. He began to think of how they would get out of this. He recognized these trolls. All three of them were escaped murderers from the city jail. It was suspected they joined Tourmaline, who was still free. He was surprised that Tourmaline had travelled all this way. He had thought he was back where the old village used to be. A groan escaped him as they approached a cave. If this was their hideout, it was no wonder they hadn’t been found. It was a known dangerous cave, full of mazes, acid pools, and bats. Every troll alive avoided it. He cringed at the thought that they were about to go in there. He silently prayed they would get out of this alive. He had babies and a wife back home that he wanted to get back to. He wanted his brother, sister in law, and nephew safe as well. He had a feeling it was going to be a very long and difficult night for them all.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0007"><h2>7. Furious Faith</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>The day only continues to worsen for the captive trolls and trollings.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The four captive trolls were taken to Tourmaline’s room right away. Buck, Digger, and Racer didn’t want to face Tourmaline’s wrath. Tourmaline had rules that he had everyone follow, and if they didn’t follow the rules, they suffered or were even killed. No one wanted to be on his bad side.</p><p>Tourmaline heard them coming and was about to scream at whoever was disturbing him. He was in the middle of having his way with Poppy again. He smirked when he saw the boys come in with the four captive. He pulled out and rubbed his hands together. “Nicely done! You got the scientist and doctor twins.”</p><p>Poppy scrambled out of Tourmaline’s bed and hurried over to Guy Diamond and Sassafras. She didn’t dare run over to the captive. She didn’t want another beating. It had been a long and hard night for all three of the older children, but Tourmaline had given her a severe beating that morning. Her right arm was badly broken.</p><p>Racer, Buck, and Digger quickly dropped Parsley and Branch to the ground and left with Ruffle to assure he was plucked and cooked.</p><p>Faith growled and cursed as loud as she could. She didn’t care that she wasn’t understood due to the tape. She was livid that Tourmaline was on top of the princess, and that she clearly had a broken arm. She glared at Tourmaline as he got closer to her. She could see he was still aroused, which terrified and disgusted her.</p><p>“Faith too? Damn good thing they got you. I like Bella with my son a lot better than you. I don’t approve of you. You’re going to make a tasty meal when I’m done torturing you.” Tourmaline smirked when she tried to lunge at him. “Oh please, you don’t scare me. You’re just a thin, tiny thing with no personality and a terrible temper. You were the last thing my son needed. For all I know you were the cause of his blindness” He shoved her to the ground and grabbed a book. He began smacking her with it. He shoved her to the ground when he was done beating her, and sized her up. “Hmm...maybe there is another reason he wanted you.” He tested her vulva with his fingers. “You’ve given birth. You’ve got a scar from a tear down here. How many grandchildren did you give me?” He kicked her when she whapped him with her hair. “Bitch!” He grabbed her hair and took his knife out of his hair. He cut it all the way down to the scalp. “Don’t fight me!”</p><p>Sky growled angrily when Tourmaline began volating Faith. He stormed towards him and yelped when Tourmaline grabbed his dislocated arm with his hair. He struggled and muffled that Tourmaline was a dead troll.</p><p>“Easy does it, Sky. You’re not fucking me while I fuck her.” Tourmaline dragged them both towards his bed. An idea came to him as he manhandled them. “Wait, I know what’s wrong.” He shoved Sky into Faith and laughed when Sky cried out in pain. “You want to fuck her? Go right ahead. I’m not going to stop you.”</p><p>Faith glared up at Tourmaline. She was in a lot of pain, but wasn’t going to show any sign of weakness to this male. He reminded her of her grandfather, which scared her. When Tourmaline moved her, she squirmed and muffled that she was going to kill him. When he suggested Sky mate with her, she looked at Sky with wide eyes. She knew he wouldn’t do something like that, but it still worried her. She hadn’t had her contraceptive that morning and she was going into heat. She didn’t want to get pregnant by anyone other than Hickory.</p><p>Sky shook his head and glared at Tourmaline. He didn’t want to mate with Faith. He was loyal only to Mercy and would never hurt her sister.</p><p>“No? That’s a shame. I guess I’ll just have to kill Bella’s only son. He’s worthless to me anyway. He doesn’t have my son’s blood.” Tourmaline got up and headed towards the room he had taken the children so they could play.</p><p>Faith screamed no. She squirmed and kicked as she tried to get free. She didn’t want Humble to get killed.</p><p>Sky followed him and got in front of Tourmaline. He muffled that he would do it. He knew how special all the children were to them, but Humble was extra special to Bella. They didn’t want to lose him.</p><p>“That’s what I thought.” Tourmaline led Sky back into the bedroom. He pulled Sky’s pants down and began rubbing him to help arouse him.</p><p>Sky shuddered when Tourmaline attempted to arouse him. He was far from wanting it and was flaccid.</p><p>Tourmaline waited a few minutes, before leaving to get medication. He came back with a needle filled with a concoction that would make Sky have an erection. He gave it to Sky and smirked as it slowly began to work.</p><p>Sky wasn’t sure what Tourmaline just gave him, but it freaked him out that it was making him have an erection. He hesitated, before approaching Faith. He closed his eyes and whimpered as he painfully began mating with Faith. It was unpleasant and painful for him, considering he had a dislocated arm and had just been beaten.</p><p>Faith looked away as Sky mated with her. She was seething that this was happening, however, she wasn’t going to fight it. She wanted Humble safe.</p><p>Tourmaline watched Sky mate with Faith and masterbated. He had plans with the adults and didn’t mind that they distracted him from Guy Diamond, Poppy, and Sassafras. He knew those kids were not going anywhere. He wasn’t planning on letting the adults live.</p><p>Not long after, Banana came in with a plate of wingdingle slices. He set it on the table and quickly left. He had no idea that he had just cooked a pet.</p><p>Tourmaline walked over to the plate and smirked. “Wingdingle? Must have been Ruffle. He was a beautiful bird.” He ate a slice and looked back when Faith screamed at him. “What? You want some?” He grabbed a slice and walked over to her. He removed the tape in one fast motion. As soon as she opened her mouth to yell at him, he shoved the meat into her mouth. He glared at her when she tried to spit it out. “Chew and swallow! Didn’t your mother teach you manners?!”</p><p>Faith watched Banana when he came in. She wondered why there was a pregnant troll in there helping Tourmaline. She glared at Tourmaline when he approached her. She choked on the meat when he shoved it down her throat. She glared at Tourmaline as he force fed her the meat. She tried several times to spit it out, until Tourmaline pulled his knife out and held it to her face. She began eating it. She fought back tears. She wasn’t sure what they were going to do. It sounded like Tourmaline wasn’t even going to let her live, but she had to try everything in her power to live. She had to if they were going to get the children out of there alive.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0008"><h2>8. Unforgivable Move</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Tourmaline works on making the trollings angry at one of the adults.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>For the next week, Tourmaline continuously tortured and raped Guy Diamond, Poppy, Sassafras, Branch, Sky, Faith, and Parsley. All seven of them were gray. The six younger children were doing alright, but the seven in Tourmaline’s bedroom were not well at all. Just when they thought things couldn’t get any worse, Tourmaline found something that would make it worse. All seven of them were in horrible shape and had endured severe injuries. Poppy and Faith were in the worst shape and were barely alive. Tourmaline had decided to take care of them, so that they didn’t kill over yet. He truly wanted them to suffer and he wasn’t ready to let Poppy die. He was actually hoping to turn her against her own colony. An evil princess would be the best revenge to him. He just couldn’t get over what the royal family had done to him by banishing him thirty seven years earlier.</p><p>Branch didn’t have much hope that they would be found. He had a head injury from what happened a week earlier. He had had a few seizures and wasn’t feeling well. He was also missing his left arm, which was his dominant arm. Tourmaline had removed it and forced all of them to eat his arm. He had been awake during the procedure and was haunted by it. He was having nightmares when he was asleep, so he was avoiding sleep. He was very worried about his unborn baby. He didn’t admit to being pregnant, but he had a feeling Tourmaline knew. He regularly hit him in the belly. He was very worried about his little one, but it appeared that it was fighting to live. He could feel it move. While Tourmaline napped, he rubbed his belly and talked to the little one, to encourage it to hold on. He didn’t want to lose him or her. He didn’t even know the sex of the baby yet.</p><p>Tourmaline woke up from a nap and noticed that Branch was rubbing his belly and talking to it. He got up and walked over to him. “So you are pregnant. You lied to me about that. I should give you an abortion.” He grabbed Branch’s right arm and had him stand up. He headed towards his door, to go to his surgical room.</p><p>“I beg of you, please don’t…” Branch whispered as he was led towards the door. He didn’t want to lose his first baby with Tsunami. Especially after Tsunami had lost his entire family five years earlier. </p><p>“Beg? You know I like to bargain.” Tourmaline glanced around and then shoved Branch towards Poppy. “You’re going to mate with her.” Getting Poppy angry with Branch would help his cause a lot.</p><p>“Poppy?! No way!” Branch suddenly snapped angrily. He didn’t want to even think about touching the children in such a way.</p><p>“Do it, or your baby dies, and so will she!” Tourmaline shoved him again. “Now!” He scrambled to get an injection ready, to make Branch aroused. He gave it to him and growled when Branch didn’t move. “I said now!” He smacked Branch in the belly, in an attempt to get him to move faster.</p><p>Branch startled badly when Tourmaline smacked his belly. He cringed as he tried to think of what to do. He didn’t want Poppy or the baby to die. Tears ran down his cheeks as he carefully positioned himself over the young princess. He pushed himself into her and gently rocked his hips. “I’m so very sorry Princess Poppy.”</p><p>Poppy hardly responded. She was not in good shape and was only semi-conscious. She whimpered when her broken arm was jarred. </p><p>“Dad? How could you…?” Guy Diamond teared up and rubbed his face of tears. He was already emotionally drained and felt helpless to help his girlfriend. Now he felt like his rock during this hard time was betraying him.</p><p>“Don’t worry big boy, I’ll let you have some quality time with your dad too.” Tourmaline watched them and grinned. He loved that he had them both crying.</p><p>Once it was clear that Branch had released his seeds within the young princess, Tourmaline pulled him off of Poppy and shoved him over to Guy Diamond. “Your son wants you to mate with him next.”</p><p>Branch yelped when Tourmaline shoved him. He whimpered when he realized what Tourmaline meant. He shook his head and gasped when Tourmaline pulled his knife out. “Oh my god…” He trembled as he prepared himself to mate with his adoptive son. He apologized as he mated with the young glitter trolling. He silently prayed that someone would come save them soon. He wasn’t sure how much more of this he could handle.</p><p>Guy Diamond was in no shape to fight it, but it didn’t stop him from glaring at his father. Tears ran down his cheeks as he was raped by the male he called daddy. “I hate you…” He was livid that Branch didn’t fight the situation harder. He didn’t understand what was going on in Branch’s mind. His father had always been so smart and strong. To him, this was unforgivable.</p><p>Tourmaline smirked as he watched the fire in Guy Diamond’s eyes. He thought of releasing them, soon, instead of killing them. As angry as they were at each other now, a civil war would surely follow. He decided he would take it into consideration. He thought he might even let Faith live. If he did that, he was going to have to move his army. An annoyance he decided would be worth it.</p><p>Guy Diamond’s words sank in like hot blades in Branch’s foggy mind. His son, the boy he watched come out of his wife eleven years earlier, hated him. He decided at that moment that even if he lived, he would never forgive himself for what he was just forced to do. He wouldn’t blame Guy Diamond if he never forgave him. He wouldn’t forgive himself either.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0009"><h2>9. The Gift That Keeps Giving</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Tourmaline releases most of the captive trolls, but not without a catch.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>A couple of days later, Tourmaline gathered his army and told them that they were going to move. He told them to all wait outside. He then walked to his room with Humble in his arms. He put the youngster down by Faith and rolled his eyes when the boy began crying. He didn’t care that the little one was scared for his stepmom. “Shut up you little whiner!” He began beating the little one, in an attempt to get him to quiet down. Once Humble passed out from his injuries, he put on a face mask. He left to go into the part of the cave that the bats slept in. He collected the dust and Histoplasma spores that were on the floor of the cave. He was familiar with the fungus that grew in the cave. It had made him sick, along with a few of his minions. They had recovered, but not without getting a lung infection. He returned to the bedroom and began spreading the spores and dust around Poppy, Guy Diamond, Sassafras, Humble, Branch, Sky, Faith, and Parsley. “Hope you have fun with your histoplasmosis infection. In your weakened state, you will likely get very sick. May the stronger of you eight survive.” He laughed before he headed out the door. “Good luck finding the exit!” He shouted as he left.</p><p>Branch’s eyes went wide. He had no clothes on and was nowhere near anything to cover his mouth with. He tried to hold his breath as he got up and hurried for the bathroom as fast as he could. Both of his legs were sprained and his right knee had torn ligaments that made walking extremely painful. He ignored the pain. He had to wash off the spores and help the others wash off the spores too. He turned on the water, before he had to breathe again. He wasn’t fast enough. He took a deep breath, when his body demanded that it needed oxygen. He trembled as he quickly washed the spores off his body. Once he was done with that, he filled a bucket with water and hurried over to the others. He awkwardly poured the water, using his right arm and hair. He made several trips to try to wash the spores away. Tourmaline was right. In their current state, none of them would do well with histoplasmosis.</p><p>Guy Diamond cringed as his father poured warm water on his body. He had open wounds that burned when the water hit it. He looked away from Branch. He was still angry with him and this only made him madder. He didn’t understand.</p><p>Branch still wanted to rinse them several more times, when he slipped in the bathroom and twisted his leg so badly that it broke. A loud scream of pain escaped him as he reached down to hold his leg. Sobs escaped him as reality quickly sat in. He was pretty sure they were all going to die now. He was the only one that was in good enough shape to leave the cave to get help, but now all hope was lost.</p><p>Outside, Tourmaline was doing a headcount. It appeared he had everyone with him that he wanted with him. He looked among his minions, and then led them away from the cave. “Let’s go find a new home.”</p><p>Banana waited until Tourmaline had turned away, before slowly backing away. He went into a tree and blended in. He didn’t want to walk to the new home. He was heavily pregnant, tired, and terrified. He never wanted to be with them in the first place, but Tourmaline had given him no choice. When they were out of sight, he hurried towards the village. He knew where it was, because he had gone out with Tourmaline to spy on them a few times. Once at the village, he looked around for help. He spotted Mercy and rushed towards her. He grunted and signed to her that he needed help.</p><p>Mercy startled when the young, naked male suddenly approached her. He had scared her. She quickly realized he was using sign language. She asked him to slow down. She couldn’t make out what he was trying to say. Her sign language was a bit rusty.</p><p>Banana squirmed with worry, but slowed down enough to tell her that he knew where some of her village members were. He pointed towards the cave and whimpered. He had been worried about the children. He knew they needed care right away.</p><p>Mercy’s eyes went wide. They had all thought they had lost the thirteen that went missing, including her little sister, Faith. She quickly took Banana’s hand and rushed towards King Peppy’s palace. Once there, she knocked on the door. When King Peppy answered it, she began recapping what Banana told her.</p><p>King Peppy didn’t wait for Mercy to finish. “Let’s get a group and go get them. I can’t believe they’re alive.” He had faded gray in grief. He thought his daughter and son had died.</p><p>Queen Lily quickly got ready to go as well. She was also gray, and had also lost hope that Poppy and Sassafras were alive.</p><p>It took about an hour to get a large enough group gathered. They all went towards the cave with Banana. They were wary, because Banana had warned them about Tourmaline and his army.</p><p>Banana got to the cave and then asked for them to wait. He was worried that Tourmaline may have returned or set booby traps. He didn’t want any of them to get hurt. He carefully made his way to the bedroom and frowned when he saw the spores and dust. He hesitated before he picked up Princess Poppy. He carried her as carefully as possible to the entrance. He signed to them that they needed to cover their mouths using one hand, when he got to the entrance. He didn’t want them to get sick.</p><p>Princess Poppy whimpered as she was carried. She was cold, wet, and in a lot of pain.</p><p>King Peppy wasn’t so sure about Banana leaving, but allowed it. He was pretty sure a pregnant father wouldn’t risk his baby by going into that cave, but he was. He gasped when he saw Banana come out with Princess Poppy. It bothered him that Banana wanted him to cover his mouth. Something wasn’t right. He quickly turned to the group. “Everyone take your cloth handkerchiefs and cover your mouths and noses.”</p><p>Banana waited for everyone to cover their mouths and noses, before gently giving Princess Poppy to King Peppy. He signed to them that seven more trolls were down there and that he found it safe enough for them to go down.</p><p>The group slowly headed into the cave. They worked together to gather up the remaining survivors. They transported them outside and quickly headed home with them. Princess Poppy and Faith were in critical condition and needed immediate attention. All eight of them also needed a bath, to rid themselves of the spores.</p><p>Branch was awake and watched the group with a dull look on his face. “I did a bad thing…” He whispered as he was carried towards the village.</p><p>Guy Diamond was also awake, as his own mama carried him towards the village. Tears ran down his cheeks. “Dad raped me, mama…” He rested his head on her shoulder as she carried him. He felt relief, that he was with his mom, but he had a long road of recovery ahead of him. They all did.</p><p>Goldie felt her cheeks flush with anger. She had seen the shape Branch was in, so she held back the urge to go over to him and kill him. She wanted an explanation, but for now, it was going to have to wait. She knew Branch at least deserved a chance to explain why he would hurt their son. She also understood that Guy Diamond might be confused and think he was raped, when he wasn’t. He was still learning terms like that. He may have been mistaken. She didn’t understand how that could have happened. She trusted Branch with her life. She hoped he didn’t break her trust.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0010"><h2>10. Early Retirement</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Branch must make a difficult decision about his job.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The group that went to collect the injured eight hurried home as fast as they could, so that they could get the care they needed. Along the way, Goldie walked over to Branch’s side and glared down at him. “Guy told me something disturbing. Is it true that you raped him and Poppy?”</p><p>Branch knew it was coming. He was hoping to tell her first, so he could explain himself, but it appeared that his son beat him to it. “Yes Goldie, it’s true. I…” He yelped loudly and started sobbing in pain when Goldie whapped him with her hair so hard in the balls that it left a welt. He put his hand down and held himself. “Didn’t have a choice…” Tears ran down his cheeks. Between his sprained wrist, sprained ankles, broken left leg, right knee ligament tears, open bite wounds, amputation site, head injury, and sexual injuries, he was in excruciating pain. The whap in the balls was the last thing he needed. He was worried about what the stress might do to the baby. He hadn’t felt it move since right after he fell.</p><p>Guy Diamond startled when Branch yelped. He whimpered and closed his eyes. He knew Branch was in a lot of pain. He didn’t know his mama was going to do that. He suddenly felt a little guilty, even though he was mad at his dad too.</p><p>“What do you mean you didn’t have a choice?! You always have a choice when you penetrate! Damn you Branch! He’s only eleven years old!” Goldie seethed as she glared at her husband. “I want a divorce!”</p><p>Mercy came hurrying over. “What happened?!” She frowned when she saw that Branch was holding himself and crying. She knew Branch never cried in front of anyone. She was suddenly very concerned.</p><p>“He threatened the baby and Poppy’s lives. I wasn’t sure what else to do. He had just cut my arm off a few days before that. I took him seriously. I’m sorry I did it. I won’t do it ever again, even if it kills me. I can’t…” Branch sniffled and cringed when Mercy came over. Goldie’s comment about wanting a divorce was not a surprise, but it hurt a lot. “I would want to divorce me too, Goldie. I did an unforgivable thing. I did a lot of things the last week that I regret, and I have no choice but to retire after losing my arm. I can’t operate with one arm. I doubt anyone will ever trust me around women or children, anyway. I won’t blame them.” He frowned when he felt a gush of fluid between his legs. “I think my water just broke.” He began sobbing inconsolably. He had tried everything to save his baby, and now he was losing it.</p><p>Goldie listened to Branch and sighed as he explained. “I want more detail, but for now, let’s see what’s going on.” She gently gave Guy Diamond to one of the village members to hold for a few minutes. She tried to open Branch’s legs, but he stiffened up on her. “Let me see, Branch.” She could smell blood, which worried her. It did appear he was losing his baby.</p><p>Branch began having a seizure. Between the stress and his head injury, his brain was not coping with his current situation.</p><p>Mercy had the trolls that were carrying Branch stop. She checked his head as he seized. “He’s got a sizable dent in his skull. It would have caused a severe concussion at the very least.”</p><p>Goldie remembered when she had a severe concussion. She recalled how foggy her brain was then. It was no wonder Branch wasn’t thinking straight. She took that into consideration, but remained angry. She was going to need time to cope with what had been done.</p><p>Branch’s seizure slowly came to an end. He whimpered and cracked his eyes open. He murmured that he wanted to die.</p><p>“It’s not your time, Branch.” Mercy said firmly. She wasn’t going to let him kill over. He had babies to care for. She gently spread his legs, to check to see if his water broke. She frowned, seeing a pool of blood instead. “He is hemorrhaging. We need to get him to the medical pod, now or we’re going to lose him and the baby.” She rushed towards the medical pod as fast as her feet allowed. She was going to prepare the surgical room. Everyone was going to need to be washed off and she knew that every minute was going to be a matter of life or death.</p><p>Goldie gently took Guy Diamond back, and then hurried after Mercy. She was willing to help Branch. She was angry, but she agreed that she didn’t want him to die.</p><p>The two trolls who were carrying Branch with a litter hurried after the two doctors. They didn’t want him to die.</p><p>Branch slowly drifted into unconsciousness. He was bleeding out from a tear on his baby pod.</p><p>Once at the medical pod, Mercy washed up in the bathroom, and then got ready to perform surgery on Branch.</p><p>Moments later, Goldie came in and washed up herself and Guy Diamond, before laying him on a medical pod bed. She kissed him all over and told him she loved him, before she rushed to join Mercy in the surgical room.</p><p>Branch was brought in a few minutes later. The two trolls who had him, quickly washed him in the bathroom, like they had been told to do earlier when they were walking back. They washed up too, before taking him to the surgical room. They put the litter on the ground and then they picked him up and placed him on the medical pod bed. They both offered blood, since Branch was losing a lot of it.</p><p>Mercy gave Branch a sedative, just in case he woke back up, and then began performing the surgery right away. She knew they were running out of time.</p><p>For the next few hours, Goldie and Mercy worked together to fix Branch’s pod, performed an emergency abortion, fixed his legs, and redid the surgery on his arm, since it appeared that infection was setting in. He lost his left shoulder blade due to the infection.</p><p>In that time, everyone one else was brought in, bathed, and tended to as well.</p><p>Both of Guy’s legs were broken. They were fixed and splinted, until they were well enough for casts. His wounds were cleaned and bandaged as well.</p><p>Princess Poppy also needed surgery. River and Ukulele worked together to save the young princess. All four of her limbs were broken, her vagina needed repaired, and she had fractured ribs. They were not sure if she was going to make it, but she was fighting to live.</p><p>Sassafras had his anus repaired, along with both his legs and left arm. Tourmaline has spared his eye, but it was inflamed and infected. He couldn’t see out of it. He was given medicine to help it heal.</p><p>Just about every bone in Faith’s body was broken and she was unconscious. It was clear that she had been brutally raped as well. As soon as Branch and Poppy were out of surgery, Goldie, Mercy, Ukulele, and River worked together to repair all the damage that Tourmaline had done. They were worried that she might die. She had the most injuries of the eight.</p><p>Sky had two broken arms, bruised ribs, a broken nose, and a broken ankle. He didn’t need surgery, but his arms and ankle were splinted until the swelling went down. He had also been raped.</p><p>Parsley had a broken skull, a broken jaw, missing teeth, had been raped, and had a broken leg. Tears ran down his cheeks when Clover came in to check on him. He embraced her and cried softly. He thought he would never see her again. He tried to talk, but she told him that whatever he had to say could wait until his jaw felt better. She didn’t want him in more pain.</p><p>Humble was the least injured of the eight. He had a lot of bruises and a concussion, but was going to be alright. He was given back to Bella, who showered him with kisses. She thought she had lost her baby boy.</p><p>Banana had been let in and bathed in an attempt to take care of the spores. He was given an examination and was surprisingly given a clean bill of health. King Peppy asked a couple of guards to watch him. He wasn’t sure he could trust the young male, yet. </p><p>It took awhile for Branch to wake up after his surgery. He was in a lot of pain, despite heavy pain medication. He glanced around and felt his heart skip a beat when he saw Tsunami. Tears ran down his cheeks. “I’m sorry…”</p><p>“You have nothing to be sorry about Branch. You tried and you saved Poppy’s life.” Tsunami reached over and took Branch’s right hand into his left hand. “We had a baby boy. He didn’t make it. Mercy had to remove him. I’m so sorry, Branch.”</p><p>“You wanted a boy. Oh god, I’m so sorry.” Branch sniffled and closed his eyes tightly. “I failed you.”</p><p>“You didn’t fail any of us, Branch. Parsley and Sky told us some of what happened. I understand now. I take back my claim earlier, about wanting a divorce. It was said in anger.” Goldie reached over and kissed him gently. “You were very brave my love. I need you to rest. You almost died on us.” She still hated what he did, but she was willing to let it go, now that she knew the whole truth.</p><p>“When you feel better, we’ll go visit our son at his grave. King Peppy is taking care of his funeral right now. I named him Twig, after you. I hope that’s alright.” Tsunami squeezed his mate’s hand. “I love you. I’m here for you.”</p><p>Branch sniffled and let out a whimper of pain. “Twig is alright. I’m so sorry…” He repeated. He still felt incredibly guilty. He wished he had handled everything differently. He wasn’t ready to forgive himself for disappointing his family.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0011"><h2>11. Histoplasmosis</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>The nine exposed to toxic fungal spores, must fight to survive.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>For the next week, one by one, all nine of the trolls who were exposed to the histoplasma spores, fell ill due to the toxins in the fungal spores. Some of them were not as sick as others, but one thing was certain. It was bad. So bad that all nine of them were on oxygen to help their bodies, since they were not getting enough on their own. Faith, Poppy, and Branch were coughing up blood. They were all on antifungal medication and antibiotics for any secondary infections.</p><p>Faith was the worst. She ended up being intubated, so that a machine could help her breathe. She was knocking on death’s door. Between her injuries and illness, she was in a coma. Her entire family thought she was going to die. They were going to try for her, in hopes that a miracle would happen.</p><p>Princess Poppy wasn’t much better. She had also slipped into a coma. Queen Lily rarely left her side. Her daughter was critically ill and her son wasn’t much better. She feared she would lose them both.</p><p>Branch was also in critical condition. He slipped in and out of consciousness. He didn’t seem to recognize his family when he was awake. His fever was so high that his intravenous fluids were cooled before being attached to his intravenous site.</p><p>Sassafras wasn’t as bad as some of the others, but he had a fever, diarrhea, and chills, along with his coughing. He was very uncomfortable. Especially due to his anal surgery.</p><p>Everyone else just had a really bad cough and a fever. They were all in the medical pod, to make sure they endured the infection without any further complications.</p><p>Banana was nervous. He had been watched like a hawk and was worried about his unborn babies, due to how sick he was. He didn’t hold still. He carried his oxygen tank with him as he paced the medical pod. He had gone into labor, which only worried him further. He thought he was losing his babies. He had given birth to a stillborn before, when he was sick in the cave.</p><p>Mercy tried multiple times to get Banana to lay down, but he wasn’t having it. She kept a close watch on him as he paced the medical pod. He had her worried. He seemed very stressed out. She stopped him once again and asked him in sign language if there was anything she could do to ease his worried mind.</p><p>Banana looked up at Mercy and let out a sigh. He told her that he was worried about his babies. He didn’t explain further, as he went back to pacing. He never admitted to anyone when he was in pain. After three years of captivity under Tourmaline’s hands, he had learned that complaining only got him into trouble.</p><p>Mercy thought for a moment, and then asked him if he wanted to see his babies on the ultrasound machine. He had refused before, but she thought perhaps she could convince him if she told him he would be able to see them and see their genders.</p><p>Banana hesitated, and then shook his head. He didn’t want anyone touching his belly for multiple reasons. He wanted these babies to be OK and he didn’t trust anyone. He cringed and began coughing hard. Green mucus came up, that was tinged with blood. He took a tissue and wiped his mouth, before walking over to the sink to wash his hands.</p><p>Mercy frowned and watched as the young troll paced and coughed. She saw the color of his mucus. It worried her that he was so sick while pregnant, but nothing was going to make the medicine work faster other than time.</p><p>Banana finished at the sink, and then headed towards his bed. He leaned on it and took a deep breath. His contractions were close together and strong. He knew he was getting closer. This was his fifth pregnancy. Tourmaline never gave him much of a break between pregnancies for the three years he was captive. He glanced at Mercy. He didn’t like that she was watching him. He wanted his babies safe. He was already worried about his babies that were still with Tourmaline, but there was nothing he could do about that. He had to try to save the ones that were still inside of him.</p><p>Mercy realized that Banana was trying to hide labor. She got a few of the blankets ready and waited for Banana to push. She wasn’t sure how many he was carrying, but it appeared to be twins. She reached over and rubbed his back soothingly.</p><p>Banana startled when Mercy touched his back. He shot a look at her, as if to indicate he didn’t want touched. He was afraid to resist it too much though. He wasn’t sure if she would strike him if he tried to push her away.</p><p>“You’re so much like my sister. Trying to be tough and hold back crying while in labor. I’m not going to hurt you or your babies.” Mercy soothed the worried father. She could see that he was scared.</p><p>Banana moved away from Mercy a few steps, and then squatted. He began to push, since he felt the urge to do so. He reached down as the first baby arrived. He took her into his hands and picked her up. He put her on the bed and began cleaning her with his blanket.</p><p>The little one was premature and tiny. She struggled to breathe. She looked just like her father, except the tip of her hair was light pink.</p><p>Premature babies were a heavy concern for Mercy, since Banana was so sick. She grabbed a nose bulb and sucked fluids out of the baby’s nose and mouth as she struggled to breathe. She took her from Banana when she didn’t make enough sounds. She rushed over to one of the oxygen rich baby warmers and turned it on. She put the baby girl in it and began rubbing her vigorously. “Come on little one…”</p><p>Banana’s eyes were as wide as saucers as Mercy rushed away with his daughter. He tried to take her back. He was so scared that Mercy would kill her. He made grumble sounds and growls when she didn’t give the baby back. He soon had to give up, when he felt the urge to push again. He spread his legs and pushed until a boy emerged. He moved him to his chest and breathed hard. His lungs were on fire, but he no longer felt labor pains, which was a relief.</p><p>The newborn boy was further along in gestation and began crying in his daddy’s hands. He was red with pink and white two toned hair.</p><p>Mercy was able to get the girl to cry. She put oxygen on her nose, to help her breathe. She turned to Banana when she heard his son cry. She checked him and saw he was bigger and doing better than the girl. She cleaned him with a blanket and smiled softly when Banana tried to squirm away from her. “You’re so protective. You did a good job…”</p><p>Banana got between Mercy and his newborn daughter, and then shielded her and his son from Mercy’s view. He was shaking as he laid his son by his daughter. He put his hand on the girl’s chest. He whimpered with worry. He could see she was struggling to breathe.</p><p>Mercy saw the panic in Banana’s face, so she let him have some space. She watched the little girl as she struggled to breathe. She hoped for Banana that she lived. It was never easy to lose a baby.</p><p>Banana was worried that his daughter got the fungal spores. Her breathing was so labored. He turned to Mercy and asked her if she had medicine for his daughter, for the fungal infection.</p><p>Mercy explained to him that she didn’t have an infection. She told him that she was just born too early and breathing was harder for her. While she had his attention, she asked him what he planned to name his daughter and son.</p><p>Banana didn’t give names a thought. He never got to choose what his children were named before. He thought for a moment, before spelling out Flower for the girl and Apple for the boy. He turned back to them and watched them snuggle with each other. He hoped that Flower would feel better soon. He didn’t want to lose anymore babies. He fought hard to save those two, so that they could have a better future.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0012"><h2>12. Worried Families</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>The families of the sick endure the struggle of watching their loved ones suffer.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Later that morning, Goldie came in to start her shift. She noticed right away that Banana had given birth. She saw that his bed was moved closer to the baby warmer. She walked over and looked at the twins. “Two different gestational ages. I’d say the red baby is about a week older than the yellow baby. What are their genders and names?”</p><p>“The yellow one is a girl and was born first. Her name is Flower. The red one is a boy and was named Apple.” Mercy walked over and looked at the twins. “He was very protective of them. He ended up trying to nap next to the warmer. I had to push the bed over here because he refused to leave their sides. He seems so worried. I don’t blame him.”</p><p>“She does appear rather premature. I don’t blame him either.” Goldie checked the twins gently. She noticed that the boy was wet, so she changed him. “Have they eaten?”</p><p>“Yes, a few times. I tried formula, since Banana is sick, but he doesn’t want them to eat out of a bottle. He’s being very paranoid. I can’t say I blame him, but I’m worried about the quality of his milk. He’s so sick.” Mercy let out a frustrated sigh. She was only trying to help the new father.</p><p>“We’re going to have to supplement feed them when he naps. He’ll get mad, but this is for their health and safety.” Goldie prepared two bottles of formula. As soon as they were ready, she picked up Flower and walked over to Branch’s bed. She sat down beside him and set Flower up to feed off the bottle.</p><p>Mercy picked up Apple and carried him over to Branch’s bed. She sat down next to Goldie and began to feed Apple.</p><p>Branch woke up when he heard the suckles of nursing newborns. He looked over at his wife and sister in law and groaned. “I had my babies?” He murmured. He was delusional and his fever was extremely high.</p><p>Goldie looked up and frowned when Branch inquired over the newborns. “No sweetheart, these babies are Banana’s babies.” She wondered why he didn’t remember losing Twig a week earlier. The longer she watched her husband, and the other victims, the more she realized just how horrific their capture was. She was certain that Faith, Branch, and Poppy would have died that night, if they hadn’t come to the cave. The rest of them would have died from their lung infections not long after. Banana had saved all of their lives.</p><p>Mercy felt her heart break for Branch. He was so sick and so confused. She hoped he would recover from his illness soon, so he could recover from the physical, psychological, and emotional turmoil that he was enduring. As soon as she was done feeding Apple, she burped him and then stood up. She headed for the baby warmer, but stopped when Branch began crying. She turned to Branch and frowned. She walked over to him and gently tucked Apple into his arm. “I’ll let you hold him for a few minutes, but he’s not yours.”</p><p>Branch sniffled and looked at the baby. “I don’t feel anything in my belly. Where did my baby go?” He looked down at the newborn boy and frowned when he realized that he wasn’t even the right coloration. Tsunami was wine purple, with purple and pink two toned hair. He was pretty sure neither of their families had red or yellow in the immediate family. “Not my baby…”</p><p>“You’re right, Branch. He’s not yours. You can hold him for as long as you need to.” Goldie burped Flower, and then gently laid her on Branch’s chest. “There you go sweetheart.” She hoped a baby fix would help him.</p><p>Banana woke up and immediately noticed that his twins were away from his side. He looked around and then whimpered when he noticed that both babies were with Branch. He thought his babies were being taken away. He felt his heart shatter. He curled up on his side and hid the fact that he was in tears. He didn’t think they were going to give his babies back. Tourmaline had forever affected how he handled these kinds of situations.</p><p>Mercy heard the whimper and immediately went to Banana’s side. She signed to him that Branch was only holding his twins for a few minutes, since he was grieving the loss of his son. She reassured him that he would get his babies right back as soon as Branch had a little baby fix. She felt bad for upsetting Banana. It was becoming very clear that he had had a rough childhood. She could only imagine the fear he felt.</p><p>“Mercy?” Bella called her sister in law. She was right by Faith’s side, with Humble tucked to her chest. “Faith’s heart rate is rising.”</p><p>Hickory was snuggled up to Faith and had tears running down his cheeks. He was so worried about his wife. She was clearly suffering. He couldn’t stand that she was struggling for life.</p><p>Ginger was by Faith’s side as well. She reached over and rubbed Faith’s cheek. “Easy dear. We’re all here beside you.”</p><p>Mercy came over and checked Faith’s vitals. She frowned and looked at her family. “It’s time to say goodbye. It appears we’re losing her.”</p><p>“I’ll go get Hope.” Goldie gently took the twins from Branch, and then moved them to the baby warmer. She settled them and then hurried out the door. She wanted to be at Faith’s side as she passed away. Tears ran down her cheeks as she hurried. She was very upset.</p><p>Bella put Humble in his own bed and tucked him in. She then went to Faith’s side and rubbed her hand gently. “I love you so much Faith. Tell Magnus that I miss him. Take care of him for me, until my time comes.”</p><p>Hickory sniffled and kissed Faith’s cheek. “It’s going to be OK mama. We’ll take care of everything.”</p><p>Goldie soon returned with Hope. She settled at Faith’s side and began to cry. Faith didn’t look good. She didn’t want her to suffer anymore.</p><p>“We’ve got this my tough girl. It’s alright. You can go join your daddy in heaven. I’ll make sure your babies are cared for. I love you, my sweet little Faith.” Ginger ran her hand through Faith’s shortened hair. She fought back tears. She couldn’t believe that her middle baby was dying before her time had come.</p><p>Instead of slipping away, Faith’s eyes fluttered open. Her heart rate had increased because she was regaining consciousness. She was too weak to move, was in excruciating pain, and felt awful, but she wasn’t ready to give up. She glanced at her mom. She fused her brows. She had heard her mother give her permission to die. She wasn’t amused. Her family had given up on her.</p><p>“She’s awake!” Bella rejoiced. She didn’t think she would see Faith’s beautiful light green eyes ever again. “Oh sweetheart, we were terrified that we lost you.” She gave her a kiss on the nose.</p><p>Hickory cuddled gently and trembled. He was so worried, but very grateful. She was very special to him and he didn’t want to lose another family member. He had lost a lot lately and his father had done a lot of terrible things. He was so stressed out.</p><p>“Her heart rate went up because she was waking up. Thank goodness…” Mercy sighed in relief. She gave Faith something for pain, and then left to get some rest. She wanted to be back in a few hours to check on everyone again.</p><p>Ginger smiled and showered her daughter in kisses. She was glad her daughter wasn’t giving up. “Welcome back to the world of the awake my dear. You’ve been in a coma for about a week. I love you so much.”</p><p>Faith watched her family. She felt so tired. She couldn’t believe she had been out cold for a week. It didn’t feel like that long. She wasn’t sure why she had a tube down her throat. She planned to yank it out as soon as she figured out how to move her arms or hair. Her arms were in casts. She couldn’t move them up to her mouth. Her hair wasn’t long enough to use yet. She was going to prove that she was a survivor and wasn’t giving up, even though her family appeared to give up on her. She had to prove them wrong.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0013"><h2>13. Never Giving Up</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Tourmaline sends a couple of his minions to King Peppy’s village, to retrieve Banana and his twins.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Later that day, a couple of pregnant teenage centaur trolls entered the village. They were a couple of Tourmaline’s minions. They were purposefully sent to King Peppy’s village, because they were heavily pregnant and would be the most likely to be accepted into the village and be given help. All so that they could get Banana and his babies. He had a feeling Banana had left to go to the village, since he was near his due date, to have his babies. It wasn’t the first time the young father had tried to take off while pregnant. He had done it the first pregnancy as well. He had managed to get him back using another pregnant troll to fetch him. He knew he was friends with Delta Dawn. He trusted that she would be able to convince him to go back. He also sent Clampers Buttonwillow, just in case talking didn’t get him to move. Clampers was more aggressive than Delta Dawn.</p><p>Delta Dawn made her way into the village. The seventeen year old looked around for someone to talk to. She wanted to make sure Banana was alright. He had acted strangely, right before Tourmaline made everyone move. She had almost stayed with him and now she wished she had. She had a feeling that Banana had gone into labor and hid to have his babies. She hoped that the villagers didn’t kill him. Tourmaline had told his minions that King Peppy’s villagers were aggressive to strangers and sometimes killed them on sight. She didn’t want to die. She wanted her baby safe. She wanted Clampers and her baby safe too.</p><p>Clampers was tense as she walked with her older sister, Delta Dawn. The fifteen year old was grumpy, hot, and tired. She wanted to get Banana and leave so she could get some rest. She was expecting her first baby. It was draining her of energy.</p><p>King Peppy was leaving the medical pod, after checking on Poppy, Sassafras, and Queen Lily, for the fifth time that day. He had errands to run. He wished he could stay by his daughter and son’s sides all day, however, he had duties to attend to. He frowned when he saw the two young centaur trolls. They didn’t look familiar to him. “May I help you, young ladies?” He walked towards them warily. He wasn’t willing to easily trust after what happened to his children.</p><p>“Yes sir. I’m looking for my boyfriend. He’s deaf and non-verbal. His name is Banana. He’s heavily pregnant.” Delta Dawn stood tall and made herself look confident, even though she didn’t feel very confident.</p><p>Clampers watched King Peppy with fused brows. She wasn’t going to be happy if King Peppy turned them away or caused them trouble. She was in a terrible mood.</p><p>“Banana and his twins are in this medical pod. Come on in, but please keep your voices down. We have critically ill patients and newborns in here.” King Peppy walked over to the medical pod and held the door open for the teenagers. He wasn’t going to turn away two teenagers who were clearly heavily pregnant. He planned to stay, just in case they caused trouble. Just like Banana had been, they were naked, and likely working for Tourmaline. After what happened to his daughter and son, he didn’t want to take any chances.</p><p>Delta Dawn headed into the medical pod. She took in her surroundings. She recognized the victims. She was shocked that all of them were still alive. Tourmaline had talked about how he was certain that they would all die from that horrible lung infection and that they deserved it after what had happened to him. She spotted Banana. Her blood suddenly began to boil when she saw that he was extremely sick. “What did you do to him?!”</p><p>Banana was asleep and had a cool wet cloth draped over his forehead. He was still recovering from giving birth earlier that morning and wasn’t feeling well due to his lung infection.</p><p>Clampers hurried over to Banana and looked him over. She saw that he was thinner in his belly region. “Where are his babies?!”</p><p>“Shh...easy. We have sick patients here. He’s sick from the histoplasma that Tourmaline exposed my children and villagers to. He saved their lives. He just gave birth this morning to two premature babies. The girl is a little more premature then the boy. We don’t want to stress them out.” King Peppy was tense. He kept himself between the angry girls and his ill daughter and son.</p><p>Delta Dawn looked puzzled. She wondered why Banana would risk himself and his babies. It was bad enough he risked leaving Tourmaline. “Why would he do this? He didn’t have to go back in there and expose himself to the spores.”</p><p>“Shut up Delta!” Clampers snapped at her older sister. “You’re saying too much to these monsters! Let’s take Banana and the twins, and get out of here before they kill him, his twins, and us!”</p><p>Everyone in the medical pod was suddenly on alert and worried now. The ones who were able to, suddenly shielded Banana and his twins, so that those girls couldn’t leave with them. They were not going to let Banana and his twins go.</p><p>“They’re not going anywhere. They’re under my protection. I gave Banana my promise that I would assure that these babies got the best care. I have no intention of breaking that promise.” Mercy crossed her arms and glared at the teenagers. She had returned after a short nap, to help Banana and give her husband, Sky, more support. She planned to keep her promise to Banana.</p><p>“Who told you we were monsters?” Queen Lily looked alarmed and confused. As far as she could tell, her village had done nothing wrong in recent years.</p><p>“Tourmaline said he was beaten to near death and banished for trying to take care of his eldest son. He said you killed his baby. Who would do that?!” Delta Dawn looked between them. She suddenly felt trapped and was having a contraction. She now wished she hadn’t been sent to this village. She didn’t want to give birth near these strangers. This was her first baby too.</p><p>“Stop talking to them!” Clampers tried to push her way over to the twins. She growled when Goldie kept herself between her and the newborn twins. “Get out of my way!”</p><p>“Flower will die without care in this medical pod! You can’t have them anyway!” Goldie snapped angrily. “I will not let a couple of kidnappers take a couple of premature twins out of our medical pod! Don’t like it?! Get the fuck out!”</p><p>“Calm down Goldie.” King Peppy walked over to Banana and gently shook him awake. When Banana woke up, he pointed to the girls. Banana’s reaction would determine his next actions. Clampers was getting too aggressive for his liking. He wanted to kick them out, but he could see that both of them were pregnant. He didn’t want to hurt them or their babies.</p><p>Banana startled awake when King Peppy shook him awake. He sat up and looked around. He thought for a moment he was back in the cave, and that he had overslept. He sighed in relief when he realized he was in the medical pod. He smiled when he saw Delta Dawn and Clampers Buttonwillow. He got up off the bed and hugged Delta Dawn. He was so glad she was OK. Tourmaline often used her against him, since he felt a special connection with her. He hoped she wasn’t mad. He was tense. Delta Dawn had a temper. He was worried she might strike him in anger, even though she had never hit him. He was only trying to protect his twins and save the children. He avoided eye contact with Clampers. Her temper was worse than Delta Dawn’s.</p><p>Delta Dawn held Banana and looked between them. “We must take him and the twins back. Our lives depend on it.”</p><p>“I’m not a kidnapper! You are! Let us go home!” Clampers snapped again, angrily. She wanted to get out of there and get back to Tourmaline. She had lost her patience.</p><p>Mercy didn’t like that Delta Dawn mentioned that their lives depended on it. “You should all stay here. It’ll be safer. Tourmaline is dangerous. He almost killed eight trolls a week ago. Three of them are in critical condition and still fighting for their lives. I don’t want you kids going through that as well.”</p><p>Banana let Delta Dawn go, and then took her hand. He squeezed it gently. He let her go and signed to her that they had fed him well and took care of him. He admitted he was still nervous around them. He looked over at his twins and then at Delta Dawn. He told her that Mercy had saved Flower’s life when she was first born. He told her he wanted to stay in the village, not only for Flower, but for Apple too. He felt much safer and wanted a better life for his youngest children.</p><p>Delta Dawn didn’t look so certain. She reminded him that Tourmaline would kill them if they didn’t return.</p><p>Mercy saw that Banana had more children. That concerned her greatly. She also noticed the threat to their lives. She looked at King Peppy. “We can’t let them leave. Tourmaline has threatened their lives.”</p><p>“No! He’ll kill us if we don’t return! We have to return!” Clamper’s stomped a hoof down. She didn’t want to die, but wasn’t ready to admit she was terrified either. She was trying to act tough.</p><p>“That’s enough. You two are not leaving. You both appear to be minors. I won’t allow pregnant children to endanger their own lives.” King Peppy blocked the front door. “Please don’t make this harder than it has to be. We’re trying to protect you both, along with your unborn babies.”</p><p>“Clampers? If Banana thinks it’s safer here, I want to stay too.” Delta Dawn winced during a contraction. She looked back when her water broke. She wasn’t expecting it.</p><p>Banana immediately grabbed a towel and began cleaning up the mess. He was used to helping other trolls during labor and didn’t want Delta Dawn to get into trouble.</p><p>“How far along are you, kid?” Goldie watched her with a frown. She hoped she got the baby out alright. She looked so young. They both looked too young to be mothers.</p><p>“Oh my god…” Clampers’ attitude suddenly changed to that of fear. She didn’t think that either of them would go into labor during this mission.</p><p>“I’m probably about six months along. Clampers is about that far along too.” Delta Dawn backed away from them and closed her eyes tightly. She was so nervous. She wanted and needed her baby to be safe.</p><p>“What are your names and how old are you both? Don’t worry, we’ll help you.” Mercy got ready to help Delta Dawn with the delivery of her baby. She wasn’t sure how close she was to giving birth.</p><p>Banana finished cleaning up the mess and got up. He stumbled a few steps, before sitting on his bed. He put his hand up to his head. He was dizzy and felt awful. He began coughing hard. He coughed up more blood and mucus. He cleaned up his mouth and groaned. He felt so miserable. He looked at Delta Dawn and signed to her that he wanted her to stay. He also told her he needed the medical attention. He knew he wouldn’t do well with travelling.</p><p>Clampers stayed by her sister’s side. She wanted to keep her safe. “We better go.” She looked at King Peppy. “Please, we must go.”</p><p>“She’ll give birth in a dangerous place. I won’t allow it.” King Peppy shook his head.</p><p>“I’m not leaving, Clampers. Banana wants me to stay. He might be the father of my baby. I want to be with him.” Delta Dawn hesitated, before moving over to Banana’s bed. “My name is Delta Dawn, and my sister is Clampers Button Willow. I’m seventeen and she is fifteen.” She answered Mercy’s questions, even though she wasn’t sure it was the wisest decision. She hugged into Banana and breathed during a contraction. She hoped that none of these strangers hurt her or her baby.</p><p>Banana held her and closed his eyes. He was glad he had someone he knew around and that she appeared not to be mad at him.</p><p>For the next five hours, they all waited for Delta Dawn’s baby to arrive. King Peppy made arrangements so that a few of his guards could watch the medical pod. He then left to see if he could find Tourmaline, with a few more of his guards. He didn’t think the cruel monster was far, considering he had sent Delta Dawn and Clampers Buttonwillow there. He had a bone to pick with him. He was livid that Tourmaline had tortured his daughter and son.</p><p>Delta Dawn was getting close and was restless. She was laying on her side, in a bed. She had gotten up a few times to pace. She was terrified that these trolls would change their minds and hurt her and her baby. She felt so vulnerable.</p><p>Clampers watched on with her hands over her mouth. She could see blood coming out of her sister’s swollen vulva. She was reassured that it was all normal, but to the fifteen year old, that didn’t look right at all.</p><p>Banana was sitting next to Delta Dawn’s bed. He had Apple on his chest. He had just gotten done feeding his newborn son. He had allowed Goldie to feed his daughter, so that she could stay warm and he could stay by Delta Dawn’s side.</p><p>Delta Dawn got off the bed and leaned onto the side of it. She hollered in pain as she began to push. She whimpered when a single foot emerged. She was in a lot of pain.</p><p>Goldie settled Flower in the baby warmer and hurried over. She got a blanket ready for the delivery, and then helped Delta Dawn get into a good position, to help her ease her baby out. “Your baby is breech. I’m going to get the other foot out. Looks like it’s a hybrid. That is a rainbow troll’s foot.” Goldie fished the other foot out. She backed away when Clampers got between her and Delta Dawn. “She’s going to need help Clampers. She won’t get the baby out as easily without my help.”</p><p>“Leave her alone!” Clampers snapped angrily. She shoved Goldie away and growled when a guard pulled her away from Goldie. “Leave my sister alone! She’s in enough pain!”</p><p>“I don’t want to be touched.” Delta Dawn glared at Goldie before she crouched a little, so her baby didn’t have far to fall. Her anatomy made it difficult for her to catch her own baby.</p><p>Goldie looked concerned. She gave the nervous mother room, but she did assure that several layers of blankets were under Delta Dawn, so that her baby had a soft landing. “Push hard Delta...”</p><p>Banana watched with concern. He wasn’t sure if he should touch Delta Dawn. She had a temper that he didn’t want to mess with and he knew how much birth hurt. He was grouchy during labor too.</p><p>“Back off!” Clampers sneered as she watched Goldie. She scraped her front right hoof several times, as if she was ready to charge. She struggled in the guard’s grasp. She wanted to protect her older sister.</p><p>Delta Dawn screamed in pain as she struggled to get her baby out. She pushed hard and grasped the side of her bed. After several rounds of hard pushing, she got her son out. She turned to him and began cleaning him with the blankets. Once he was clean, she picked him up and held him to her chest. She was breathing hard and was exhausted. “Hello son…” She bled profusely from a tear. She looked up at Banana. “Looks like you’re his father. I want to name him Papaya.”</p><p>The newborn hybrid looked more like a rainbow troll more than a centaur. He was yellow, with red and white wavy hair. He cried in his mother’s arms. He was healthy and loud.</p><p>Banana had a smug look on his face. He managed to impregnate Delta Dawn, instead of Tourmaline. A feat he didn’t think he managed. He shifted nervously when Delta Dawn told him that he was the father. He hoped that it didn’t upset her that he was her son’s father.</p><p>“He’s cute…” Clampers watched from where she was being held. She looked nervous. She knew she had to do the same thing soon. The thought terrified her, but she wasn’t ready to admit that in front of these strangers.</p><p>Goldie had watched the entire thing with a concerned look on her face. The amount of blood Delta Dawn was losing was worrisome. “Delta? I need to fix that tear. If I don’t, you will die from blood loss.”</p><p>“You’re not touching me!” Delta Dawn said firmly. “It’s a trick...”</p><p>Banana watched the blood as it dribbled on the floor. He looked up at Delta and frowned. He hoped she was alright. He didn’t want to lose her.</p><p>“You’re not touching my sister! You better leave her alone!” Clampers glared at Goldie. She didn’t trust her at all.</p><p>Goldie looked worried, but backed off. She rarely had a patient refuse treatment, but it was Delta Dawn’s right to refuse treatment. She hoped for the baby that the tear would clot, or Delta Dawn changed her mind. She didn’t want to see a young mother lose her life and leave her son motherless. She said a silent prayer as she watched the young mother set her son up to nurse. She planned to keep an eye on her, just in case.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0014"><h2>14. Worry For The Future</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Delta Dawn’s future is uncertain, as she continues to refuse medical treatment.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>It didn’t take long for blood loss to affect Delta Dawn’s behavior. She became dizzy at first, not from the loss, but due to the sight of her own blood. She crawled back into her bed with her baby and held him closely. She could feel the blood pool under her as she laid there with him. Everytime she was asked if she was sure she didn’t want stitches, she turned the offer away. She didn’t want anyone touching down there and she was worried that they might do something harmful to her or her baby. A sense of impending doom came over her as she grew paler. “I don’t feel well…”</p><p>Clampers watched as her sister bled out. She began to tremble when her sister said she didn’t feel well. She went into the bathroom and locked herself in there. She hated to abandon her sister like that, they had both gone into the bathroom together at this point, but she couldn’t watch the blood pool on the bed and drip onto the floor. It was scaring her more than she would ever admit. Her fear wasn’t helped by the fact that she too was feeling contractions. She didn’t want to go through what her sister was going through.</p><p>Goldie watched Clampers retreat and then stepped closer to Delta Dawn. “Delta, I can make you feel better, if you let me stitch your tear closed and give you a blood transfusion.”</p><p>“I don’t trust you. I’ll be fine...” Delta Dawn whispered. She trembled as she gently gave Papaya to Banana, and then curled up as best as she could on her side. She felt awful, but the fear of being poisoned or harmed was too great.</p><p>Banana looked between Delta Dawn and Goldie. He tucked his son into his hair and asked Goldie if she would just fix her tear. He was very worried about her.</p><p>Goldie wished she understood sign language as well as Mercy did. She didn’t quite understand what he asked, but she had a feeling he was very worried about Delta Dawn. The concern was written all over his face. She looked at him as she spoke. “I can’t treat her without her consent. She has the legal right to refuse treatment. If I invade that right, she could sue me and I could lose my license as a doctor.”</p><p>Banana whimpered and told her that he gave her permission to save Delta Dawn’s life. He didn’t want her to die.</p><p>Goldie frowned when he signed to her again. She didn’t really understand. “I’m going to get Mercy in here.” She walked over to the phone and called the bunker. Ginger had forced Mercy to go home before Delta Dawn gave birth, because she was showing clear signs of exhaustion. The worried grandmother wanted her eldest child to get some sleep. She really needed it.</p><p>Emerald answered the phone. “Hello?”</p><p>“Emerald? Be a dear and go wake up aunt Mercy. Tell her I have an emergency in the medical pod. Tell her I need Tsunami too. Please hurry.” Goldie hung up the phone and walked over to Banana. She wanted Tsunami to come, because she needed someone who could give blood. Tsunami had blood that was good for any of the Trolls who needed a blood transfusion. “Banana, I have Mercy coming. She’ll help me try to convince Delta Dawn to accept help.”</p><p>Banana nodded in understanding and then took Delta Dawn’s hand. She looked so weak. He thought he might lose his best friend.</p><p>Clampers came out of the bathroom and began pacing, since the guards were not letting her leave.</p><p>It didn’t take long for Mercy and Tsunami to get to the medical pod. Mercy quickly saw that Delta Dawn was in a lot of trouble. She rushed over to her side. “We need to fix this tear, immediately.”</p><p>“Don’t touch me…” Delta Dawn whispered. She groaned and looked at Banana. She was petrified.</p><p>Banana ran his hand through her red wavy hair. He looked down at her when she looked up at him. He signed to her, begging her to let them treat her.</p><p>“If we don’t fix the tear and give you blood, you will die and leave your baby motherless.” Mercy told the young mother. She wasn’t going to lie to her. At the rate she was losing blood, Delta Dawn was going to die from blood loss very soon.</p><p>“Alright, I’ll do it.” Delta Dawn looked at Banana. “If I die, take care of our son.”</p><p>Banana nodded and gave her a quick hug, before looking at them with a worried expression. He had seen another teenager bleed to death after giving birth before. He had taken care of his baby for him. He didn’t want that to be so for Delta Dawn.</p><p>Goldie didn’t waste any time. She washed her hands, put on gloves, and grabbed the sutures. “This is going to hurt, but I have to get this closed now. I don’t have time to numb you up.” She began stitching the tear closed. She didn’t want Delta Dawn to lose any more blood.</p><p>While Goldie worked on stitches, Mercy got blood from Tsunami and gave his blood to Delta Dawn. She also set the young mother up on fluids.</p><p>Clampers began to cry into her hands. She had glanced over and saw the shape her sister was in. Her sobs only intensified when her own water broke.</p><p>Delta Dawn grasped onto Banana as Goldie and Mercy worked on saving her. She frowned when Clampers began to cry. “Is she OK?”</p><p>“She’s scared. I think she went into labor too.” Goldie finished stitching Delta Dawn, threw her gloves away, washed her hands, and then walked over to Clampers. “She’ll be alright. You’re going to be OK too. I’ll make sure of it.”</p><p>Mercy finished as well and walked over to Clampers. “Goldie is right. We’re going to make sure you two are just fine.”</p><p>“I’m so scared. I want my mama.” Clampers sniffled and rubbed her face of tears. “She’s dead…”</p><p>Delta Dawn sniffled when tears filled her eyes. She missed their mom too and it was hard to hear her sister cry.</p><p>“Where is your dad? Maybe once you heal up, we can go look for him.” Goldie tried to soothe the scared teenager.</p><p>“He’s dead too.” Clampers clenched her fists when a strong contraction started up. She gasped when Mercy hugged her. She hugged into her and whimpered. She wasn’t going to turn down the feeling of warmth. She needed it at that moment.</p><p>“I’ve got you.” Mercy held the crying teenager. She could only imagine the fear she felt. For a while when she was little, she worried about getting pregnant too. She would have been scared too. She wanted Clampers and Delta Dawn to have something to hold onto during this scary time. She planned to ask them if she could adopt them into her family. She already planned to help them. She knew Sky wouldn’t mind it at all.</p><p>Goldie got ready for the arrival of Clampers’ baby. She had a feeling Clampers was close. She had watched the time between contractions and they were close together. “Push when you’re ready. I’ll take care of the baby.”</p><p>“I’m not ready!” Clampers hugged tighter into Mercy. She decided against resisting help. She didn’t want to deal with the same struggle that her older sister endured. She whimpered during the next contraction. She had no choice but to push. She let out cries of pain as her baby began making her way out.</p><p>“Well done! You’re doing a fantastic job!” Mercy coached the terrified teenager. She could see that she was pushing her baby out without any help. “That’s it. One more good push should do it.”</p><p>Goldie didn’t touch the baby until it was about to come out. She didn’t want to scare Clampers anymore more than she already was. She caught the baby and moved her to her mother’s arms. She began cleaning her up. “She’s a pretty girl. You did a fantastic job.”</p><p>The centaur trolling was white with orange hair and a pink tail. She was fathered by another young centaur troll that was still with Tourmaline. She began crying as Goldie cleaned her.</p><p>“I had a baby!” Clampers breathed hard as she held her newborn daughter. She looked between Mercy and Goldie. In just over six hours, they had gained some of her trust. She still felt apprehensive, but these trolls were proving to her that there were still trolls out there that she could trust. “I’m going to name her Snow.” She was bleeding from a tear, but her focus was on her baby girl.</p><p>“It’s a pretty name for a pretty girl. Why don’t you go lay down next to your sister. It looks like you tore too. We’re going to fix you just like we fixed your sister, alright?” Mercy led her over to Delta Dawn and helped her lay down. She got to work on fixing the tear. She was glad that Clampers had calmed down. She hoped that this was the beginning to a wonderful relationship. She felt these girls deserved it.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0015"><h2>15. A Mistake</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>While out looking for Tourmaline, King Peppy faces a difficult decision.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>While Mercy and Goldie helped Delta Dawn and Clampers Buttonwillow settle with their babies, King Peppy and his guards searched for Tourmaline. King Peppy was sure that Tourmaline wasn’t far away. With two of his girls at his village, expecting and delivering babies, he didn’t think that monster would just disappear.</p><p>King Peppy was right. Tourmaline hadn’t gone far. He had watched as trolls came in and out of the medical pod from the top of a tree. He had a set of binoculars and was even able to see the babies from inside the window that was higher up to let the sunlight into the larger building. He was not happy that Delta Dawn and Clampers had given birth to babies that were clearly not his offspring. “Waste of good genetics…” He whispered, before he pulled out a piece of paper and a pen from his hair. He began writing on the paper. He decided the babies were not worth trying to retrieve so he had something to say to his minions and for Queen Lily. The only trolling in that medical pod that appeared to possibly be his was severely premature. She was no use to him. He put his binoculars away and began prepping for an attack. He could see that King Peppy and his guards circling around the territory. He planned to kill them all, but if he was to do that, he was going to have to do so swiftly and carefully. He had a gun, with a silencer on it. He loaded it and prepared his gun. Once he felt the time was right, he took aim and began to quickly shoot the guards. He wanted to get King Peppy last. He had plans with him.</p><p>King Peppy noticed that one by one, several of his guards began to drop to the ground. He ran over to one of them and noticed he had a bullet wound to his head. He stood up and sneered. “Get out here and face me you coward! You had a lot of nerve raping, poisoning, and beating my daughter and son! They are just babies!” He prepared his own gun and looked around for Tourmaline. He knew the chances of dying at this point were high, but his anger was greater than his fear for death.</p><p>The guards began shooting blindly into the tree. They surrounded their king, to protect him, but one by one, they too dropped dead.</p><p>Tourmaline had to reload his gun a few times, before the only troll that was left alive was King Peppy. He had been shot in his ear, but didn’t worry or pay mind to it. He knew it was not a lethal wound. He pointed carefully towards the young king’s right arm and then shot it, so he had to drop the gun. He quickly shot him in the leg too, to make him fall to the ground.</p><p>King Peppy collapsed to the ground and hollered in pain. He held his bleeding leg with his left arm. He looked over to his right arm. It was broken and bleeding profusely. He screamed for help. He knew he would die soon if he didn’t get medical attention.</p><p>Tourmaline came down and walked over to King Peppy. He pointed the gun to his head. “I want to end this kingdom. I don’t give a shit about you little ass wipes. Rest in hell, you son of a bitch.” He shot King Peppy in the head and dropped the letter at his chest. He then ran off to rejoin his group. He didn’t plan to stay close by for now. He was running out of bullets and knew Queen Lily would likely prepare to protect her village with larger numbers. He needed to prepare his army.</p><p>King Peppy didn’t die immediately, but his brain was exposed. He whispered that he loved his family, before slipping away into darkness.</p><p>King Peppy’s scream for help didn’t go unnoticed. Silk had heard it from near her kitchen window. The worried widow grabbed her gun, hurried out the door, and rushed to King Peppy’s aid. She arrived just in time to hear King Peppy whisper that he loved his family. She rushed over to him and picked him up. She felt the life got out of him. She rushed towards the medical pod and sobbed for help. She had a feeling it was going to be fruitless to even try, but she wasn’t about to give up on her king. </p><p>Goldie heard Silk’s sobs. She opened the medical pod door just in time to see Silk rushing towards the medical pod with King Peppy in her arms. She rushed back inside and prepared to give King Peppy treatment.</p><p>Mercy hurried outside and helped Silk carry King Peppy. She had a feeling he was gone. He didn’t look good at all.</p><p>Silk got King Peppy inside and helped Mercy place him on a bed. She backed away and sobbed as she watched Mercy and Goldie as they checked King Peppy over.</p><p>“Peppy?!” Queen Lily scrambled to her feet and rushed over to them. She screamed when Ginger grabbed her. “No! Oh my god, no!” She had already faded gray due to the deep concern for her daughter and son. What little light she had left, disappeared immediately. She was no medical expert, but she could see that there was little hope that he would survive that sort of head wound.</p><p>“Wait, mistress, we have to wait. They might be able to save him.” Ginger pulled Queen Lily into a hug and held her as she cried in her arms. She understood the pain of losing a husband all too well. Her heart ached for her. She could see that it didn’t look good for King Peppy.</p><p>Goldie checked King Peppy’s pulse. She didn’t find one. She got into position and began performing cardiopulmonary resuscitation.</p><p>Mercy gave King Peppy breaths, while Goldie attempted to revive him.</p><p>The two girls tried for several minutes, before Ginger let Queen Lily go and walked over to her daughters. “That’s enough girls. He’s gone…” She looked at King Peppy when they both stopped. “We best prepare him for burial.”</p><p>Queen Lily backed away, before rushing to the bathroom. She got sick in the toilet. The news was more than she could bear.</p><p>“He’s not the only one. The others were obviously gone. Brain matter everywhere…” Silk trembled as tears ran down her cheeks. “We must be careful. I don’t want anyone else to die. I don’t think my heart could take anymore of it.”</p><p>Goldie felt her heart break. Several of the guards that she saw left were fathers, mothers, husbands, and wives. Their loss was going to be heart wrenching for so many of them. “I agree. Let’s gather colony members so we can work together to get them and prepare for their funerals.”</p><p>Several hours later, after everyone who was shot was gathered and prepared, a mass funeral was arranged. Queen Lily bravely stood among her villagers once it was all over. She had read Tourmaline’s letter. It worried her greatly. She took a deep breath and looked among them. “We must prepare to move. In one week, I will move the entire village to the outskirts of the city. There, we will be better protected from being attacked like this again. I know a lot of you are worried about the sick and injured inside the medical pod. I assure you that my doctors and nurses will do everything in their power to protect them and assure that they are moved safely and swiftly. We will not lose our precious prince and princess. I refuse to see this dynasty die without a great fight.” She stepped away and left to prepare for the move. It wasn’t going to be easy, but she was determined to protect the family she had left.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0016"><h2>16. Another Move</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Queen Lily leads her village towards the city.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>It took a week for everyone to prepare for the big move to the city. Queen Lily made arrangements in the hospital for all of the ill and injured trolls. She also called and warned King Trollex of Tourmaline’s lust for blood, since he had said in his letter that he planned to go fishing for trolls along the coast. A warning that had come a little too late. She found out that King Trollex had also lost several colony members before he had told them all to stop going to the beach. He told Queen Lily that he was going to move his own colony and that he would call her when he settled in his new home.</p><p>As morning rose, Queen Lily arranged so that all of her colony members were together. Once she was sure they had everyone, she began to lead them towards the city. The gray widow’s pace was slow. She felt worn out and stressed. Only an hour into the walk, she ended up collapsing. She laid on her side and cried softly. She was exhausted and felt useless.</p><p>“I’ve got you, Queen Lily.” Biggie walked over and gently picked up his grieving queen. He held her as he began to lead the way. He knew which way they were heading.</p><p>Queen Lily rested her head on Biggie’s shoulder and sniffled as she wrapped her arms around him. “Smidge and Hope might be jealous.” She whispered. She knew Smidge was fiercely protective of her husband and wife.</p><p>“I’m not jealous.” Hope walked beside them and took Queen Lily’s hand. She wasn’t as close to her as Goldie was, but she still felt horrible for her. Everyone was also worried about her. She was struggling to adjust without King Peppy and was understandably grief stricken.</p><p>“I’m a little jealous.” Smidge cracked a smile as she looked up at Queen Lily. She refrained from giving her too much of a hard time though. She knew Queen Lily’s heart was broken.</p><p>“I’m carrying you, because it’s the right thing to do.” Biggie smiled softly. He knew Smidge was joking. Queen Lily needed the support. He didn’t want her spiralling into a depressed state. They needed her to stay strong. He frowned when he felt something unusual while Lily was pressed to him. It felt like there was movement in her belly. He didn’t dare say a word to her. He knew she had buried several miscarried and stillborn babies, due to pregnancy complications.</p><p>Queen Lily sniffled and closed her eyes. “Peppy said that all the time. He was the best thing that happened to me and ours.” She let more tears fall. She was glad she had her colony to lean on during this difficult time. She wasn’t sure she could carry on without them.</p><p>Halfway to the city, the group stopped for a break and lunch. Queen Lily was settled by Princess Poppy’s litter. She ran her hand through her daughter’s gray hair and whispered to her that she was proud of how brave she was. It hadn’t been easy for her lately either. After giving Poppy some love, she rolled over to give Prince Sassafras some love as well. She wanted to be fair to both of her babies.</p><p>Poppy was slowly getting better and was awake. She was devastated to learn that her father had died while seeking revenge. She had been quiet. She wasn’t ready to talk yet. Her traumatic experience still affected her greatly.</p><p>Sassafras smiled when he felt Queen Lily’s hand upon his cheek. He was mostly blind, due to scarring from the infection and damage to his eye, but he knew who it was. “I’m feeling better today, mama.” He was worried he might never restore his vision, even though he had been reassured that his blindness might be temporary.</p><p>While Queen Lily rested and checked on her children, Biggie walked over to Goldie. He had a worried expression as he approached her. “Goldie, are you aware that Queen Lily is pregnant?”</p><p>Goldie turned to Biggie and nodded slowly. “I’m aware. She has refrained from announcing it this time. It’s a complicated pregnancy. She fears she’ll lose them, like the others. Especially now that she has lost Peppy…”</p><p>“Isn’t there something we can do to prevent her from losing them?” Biggie stood by her and widened his eyes when he realized that she used a plural term. “How many?”</p><p>“She’s having twins. I wanted to see them on the ultrasound, but she refused to have one. She’s sure these two will pass, like the babies before them. There is not much we can do for her. She has antibodies from a protein that slipped into her blood when she tore while having Poppy. It has made every pregnancy she has had incompatible. Her own body attacks the baby’s blood. They literally die from anemia either before birth, or very shortly after.” Goldie blinked a few tears away. She had lost a couple of babies herself. She understood and felt Queen Lily’s pain. She wished she could fix it, but everything she had tried had failed. Sky had been working on medicine to help Lily, but with him ill and injured, and with Peppy gone, she felt that all hope was lost for Lily and her babies. Poppy appeared to be the only biological child that was going to live into adulthood, and even she was fighting for her life.</p><p>Biggie felt his heartbreak. He understood the fertility frustration as well. He had been trying to protect Smidge from an untimely death, by not having any more children with her. Hope had been unable to conceive either, due to a stone baby that was in her pod. The surgery to remove the dead fetus could kill her. A risk that they were not willing to take. He sat next to Goldie and thought for several minutes, before looking at her. “Couldn’t you give the twins blood, while they’re still in the pod? Maybe if you use the ultrasound. I’ll give my own blood to see those babies born and alive.”</p><p>Goldie gapped her mouth open. She didn’t think to try that. She smiled and gave Biggie a hug. “You’re the best Biggie. As soon as we settle in the city, I’ll tell Queen Lily about the experimental treatment. I don’t think we have much to lose.” She kissed his cheek, before walking away to make sure her children got fed and that her husbands ate. She wanted Branch to get better and Tsunami had found out a couple days earlier he was about a month pregnant. He needed to eat well too.</p><p>Biggie let out a soft sigh of relief. He didn’t understand as much about the medical field as Goldie did, but Hope often talked about her sisters’ and their husbands’ work on continuing to improve medicine and technology. He had enough knowledge that blood for a baby who was anemic was likely going to save its life. He just wished one day that a miracle would come to his own family. He wished he could have a baby with his Hope. Until then, he looked forward to seeing if his idea would work for Queen Lily.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0017"><h2>17. Warm Welcome</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>The city welcomes the grieving queen and her community with open arms.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Shortly after lunch, Goldie made a worrisome discovery while checking on Basil. He had been quiet, and he rarely went about his day without making all sorts of noises. He had spent all day snuggling onto Coffee’s back. She knew he loved all animals, and felt a special connection with the tokami cats. Once at Coffee, she climbed up and gasped when she saw him cuddling with a wingdingle chick, covered in wounds. “Basil! Where on earth did you get this baby?!”</p><p>Basil scrambled upright and hugged the chick to him. The poor thing was covered in blood and hungry. “It’s Ruffle’s son. I didn’t want to leave without him. I did what was right.” He sneered when she got closer. “Don’t touch him!” He had a few scratches and wounds all over his face and arms, from the mother defending its chick. He was lucky to be alive and in one piece.</p><p>Goldie checked her son over and frowned when she saw how roughed up he was. She was glad he didn’t die of blood loss. “Come on Basil, you need to be cleaned up. The chick will be fine. She’ll be a fine present for Hickory. He misses Ruffle.” She helped him down Coffee and led him over to Mercy.</p><p>“Oh my goodness, what happened?!” Mercy ran over and checked Basil over. “What did you do young man?!”</p><p>“My chick. He’s mine.” Basil grumbled crankily as he carried his chick around. He had a stern look on his face. He wanted to keep the little one. He had worked hard to get a hold of her.</p><p>“It’s a girl Basil. She doesn’t have a penis. I suppose you can keep her, so long as you let us help you provide for her. She needs proper care and feeding. Uncle Hickory should have visitation rights. Especially if she is Ruffle’s daughter.” Goldie smiled softly as she got her medical equipment. She began cleaning up Basil’s wounds. She glanced at Mercy. “He stole a chick and paid the price. I’m both proud and disturbed. It’s hard to believe he did this alone.” She planned to talk to her other children about this later. It was obvious he had had some sort of help.</p><p>“You’re lucky to be alive, young man.” Mercy helped clean him up. “You’re lucky aunt Faith is under the weather. She’d wear your hind quarters thin for scaring us.”</p><p>“Fine, her name is Floofy, because she’s fluffy.” Basil grumbled as he was cleaned up. He ignored the sting from the antiseptic wash. “I don’t want to share. I got her, I'll keep her.” He glanced towards Mercy. “I want to visit aunt Faith.” He was worried about his family and friends, but his family wasn’t letting him near them yet. He was grouchy about it. He thought they were keeping him away because he was disabled. He did not like being treated differently, under any circumstances.</p><p>“It’s time to go.” Ginger walked over and cringed when she saw Basil. “I’ll sit with him, girls. It appears grandma needs to have a chat with her naughty grandson.” She wanted to know what happened and wanted to learn more about this wingdingle chick that was in his arms.</p><p>“Thank you, mom.” Goldie gave Basil a single smack in the bottom for being naughty, and then headed towards the group that was helping with the sick and injured. She wanted to be on standby, just in case Faith, Branch, or Poppy needed care. They were still considered to be in serious condition.</p><p>The group continued on their way. It was nearing dinner time when they finally reached the city. Instead of settling on the outskirts, like Queen Lily planned, Biggie continued to carry her into the city. She needed to be taken to the hospital, and there was talk of actually hiding the royal family within the city. Everyone agreed they would be safer in the center of the city, instead of on the outskirts, where Tourmaline could find them.</p><p>As they walked deeper into the city, a group of trolls began to gather. Queen Lily was well known and cherished in the city. She always gave them wonderful things each time she came to visit with King Peppy. They were deeply saddened to hear of the lost king. They wanted to help Queen Lily, Prince Sassafras, and Princess Poppy as they coped during this difficult time.</p><p>A thirty-two year old sky blue troll, that had white hair, and a light blue hair tip, by the name of Cloud, walked over to the group and smiled at them. He was a chaplain, and planned to help the community settle. He looked among them and began to sing. He wanted to let them know that he was a friend, and was there to help them. He had heard that they were coming and had already made arrangements of where they would all go for the night.</p><p>As Cloud’s voice echoed in the streets, everyone within earshot of the song also began to sing. They were all more than happy to lend Queen Lily, her family, friends, and community a helping hand.</p><p>Queen Lily looked around as the city dwellers sang to them. Her great grandfather had decided to keep the royal family away from the large city, to protect them from assisnation, or other possible problems. It appeared there wasn’t much to fear now. Everyone seemed so happy to see her. She hoped for her daughter, son, and friends that the warm welcome would last. They really needed to heal and cope with the horrible events of the last month, so that they could search for Tourmaline and put an end to his madness, before it was too late for her royal dynasty.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>This is the song that the city dwellers sang to Queen Lily and her community. I do not own the song. All credit goes to the creators of this song.</p><p>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zb2nICQs4tY</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0018"><h2>18. Medical Experiments</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Lily and her twins get the treatment that they need and so does Hope.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The first thing the villagers focused on was to get all the sick and injured into the hospital, including Queen Lily. Once they were all settled, Goldie set up the ultrasound, to check on Queen Lily’s twins. She knew her friend didn’t want to try anymore, but she wasn’t willing to give up on those twins. She saw that both were weak on the ultrasound. She saw that one was a boy and one was a girl. She feared that it might be too late for them, since they were so weak. She retrieved blood from the blood bank and prepared to give it to the wee babies through their umbilical cords.</p><p>Queen Lily didn’t look at her babies. She didn’t want to bond with them in any way. It was already painful enough to lose every other baby with Peppy. It was going to hurt worse since it was Peppy’s last babies and there were two of them.</p><p>“Hello?” A fifty-six year old orange female troll with graying purple hair walked in to check on her new patient. “My name is Doctor Saza. Nice to see you Queen Lily. I’m sure you don’t remember me, but I sure remember you. I delivered you when your mother gave birth to you.” She smiled up at Goldie. “Doctor Goldie, it’s nice to see you again.”</p><p>“Nice to see you too, Doctor Saza. It’s been nearly twelve years.” Goldie smiled softly. “Lily, this was my monitor when I was going to school. She taught me a lot of wonderful tricks, before I moved out of the city.” She finished preparing the blood. “I’m giving Lily’s twins blood. It was suggested by one of the villagers. It’s an experiment. She’s lost seven pregnancies the last eleven years. She has one biological child by the name of Poppy.”</p><p>“Hello Doctor Saza. Mom talked about you often. She was sad that you moved to the city.” Queen Lily sniffled and wiped her face of tears. The mention of her deceased babies hurt a lot. “I’m a bad mother.”</p><p>“Sounds like she has the RH factor. It’s so hard to have a healthy baby after.” Doctor Saza frowned when Queen Lily claimed that she was a bad mother. “Oh no, you’re not a bad mother just because of a medical condition. Surely you’re doing everything right. These things just happen.”</p><p>“Lily is a wonderful mother. She’s been attentive and protective of Poppy since she was born and to Sassafras since she adopted him nearly six years ago.” Goldie used the ultrasound to find the first twin’s umbilical cord. “OK Lily, this is going to hurt. I need you to take a breath.” She slowly inserted the needle, until it was in the umbilical cord. She injected the blood slowly. “You’re doing great mama.” She could see that the baby who was getting blood was already more energetic. “I think it’s working.” She removed the needle, once the first baby had enough blood. She repeated the same procedure with the second twin.</p><p>Queen Lily grasped the sheets on the hospital bed. She glanced down at her slightly swollen belly when she felt her babies squirm. “They’re more awake and active.” She wasn’t sure how to feel about it.</p><p>“I bet they feel much better. We might have to do this a couple of times, until they are old enough to arrive.” Doctor Saza prepared fluids and set Queen Lily up to receive them. “I want you on bedrest, for the rest of your pregnancy.”</p><p>“I agree. You should rest so your twins have a chance. I’ll help you with anything you need to do. I know you have a lot on your plate.” Goldie finished giving blood and then took care of the needles. She was glad that the treatment seemed to work. “Doctor Saza, I have another troubling case that I want you to see. She’s had a stone baby in her belly for the last eleven years. You’ve met her before. My sister, Hope.”</p><p>“Thank you…” Queen Lily whispered as she rubbed her belly. She was glad that her babies seemed to feel better, but was still very worried about them.</p><p>“Hope has a stone baby? Poor dear. We can give her an operation, but I’ll have to gather a team of doctors. There is a chance she could bleed to death. All hands will be on deck for that operation. When did you want to do this?” Doctor Saza inquired curiously.</p><p>“As soon as possible. Her husband just saved Queen Lily’s twins. I think he deserves to father babies with Hope, and Hope deserves to be a mother to her own children.” Goldie washed her hands and walked over to Queen Lily. She gave her a hug and held her. She had high hopes that the twins would live.</p><p>“I want her to be in here to recover. I want company and I want Biggie here. I owe him so much.” Queen Lily looked hopeful as she hugged Goldie. She didn’t want to be on bedrest alone. She was also worried about her kids.</p><p>“I’ll see what we can do. Give me some time.” Doctor Saza smiled at them, before leaving to make phone calls.</p><p>The group of doctors didn’t waste much time. After consulting with retired doctors and a few who specialized in special cases, they all felt Hope would be at greater risk keeping her stone baby, then to remove the calcified fetus. They were very worried about infection. They performed it in the early morning hours, so that Hope could start her healing process immediately.</p><p>Biggie paced the halls of the hospital. He had Mr. Dinkles in his arms. He was terribly worried about his wife. He knew there were risks. He hoped that they gave him good news. He didn’t want to lose his Hope.</p><p>Smidge was in a waiting room with the children. She saw Biggie each time he passed the door. She was worried too. Hope had been a great mother for their children. She wanted her to have her own biological children as well.</p><p>It took several hours for the surgery to be over. As soon as she was closed and stabilized, Hope was moved to Queen Lily’s room, to be her roommate. She received fluids and blood intravenously, since she did lose quite a bit of blood. She woke up shortly after arriving in the room. She was in a lot of pain as she fluttered her eyes open. “Hurts…”</p><p>Queen Lily was sitting by the bed. She reached over and took Hope’s hand. She wanted to let her know she was there for her. “I get to help my friend as she heals…”</p><p>“I know it does little sister. We got the baby out. You should be able to have children, after you have a chance to heal. Queen Lily will be your roommate while you heal.” Mercy took Hope’s other hand. “I told you we would find a way.”</p><p>“Hope, my love? Is there anything you want? I can make your favorite things. Cloud invited me into his home to bake.” Biggie looked deeply concerned. He hated seeing his mates in pain. He smiled softly when she nodded. “I’ll get right on it.” He escorted the children out of the room. “Let’s let mama rest.”</p><p>“Feel better soon, mama.” Pearl waved to her, before being led out the door.</p><p>“I love you mama!” Daffodil said as she was led towards the door. She held her sister, Daisy’s hand since she didn’t want to go. All four children were worried about Mama Hope.</p><p>“Bye, my sweet babies.” Hope whispered as she watched them leave. She looked at Queen Lily and smiled softly. “I look forward to visiting my friend.” She closed her eyes and took a shallow breath. Breathing hurt a lot, but it was a small sacrifice to pay in order to become a mom again. She hoped this time, the baby was born and thrived.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0019"><h2>19. Far Too Young</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Guy Diamond struggles to cope with the emotional and physiological pain of the capture.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>For the next few weeks, everyone had time to heal and cope with what had happened because of Tourmaline. Those with broken bones were starting to be able to walk, and everyone had been released from the hospital. A clinic was made and was opened up, so that Goldie, Mercy, Tsunami, River, and all the other medical staff from the village, could still work together. A large apartment complex was made for the villagers, since they were all so used to being so close together. Queen Lily, Prince Sassafras, and Princess Poppy lived next door to Goldie. All three of them dressed like civilians. The hope was that by looking like everyone else, they would be better protected from further attack. Sassafras was starting to regain his vision.</p><p>Branch still hadn’t regained all of his memories from the events at the cave and was still occasionally having seizures. He was still adjusting to being right handed, after being dominantly left handed all his life. He was going through physical therapy to learn how to walk again and how to function without his arm. He had been keeping a distance from Guy Diamond, since every time he tried to talk to him, Guy Diamond told him to go away. He didn’t remember anything that happened in the cave, after his arm was amputated. He even forgot about the surgery that saved his life and ended the life of his baby. Goldie had simply told him that he had had a miscarriage. She had chosen not to tell him what happened, since it was such a traumatic experience. She told him that it was best that the memory never came back.</p><p>Guy Diamond was asked not to repeat what happened to his father. His mama told him that it was OK to be mad at his dad, but that his father had been put in a difficult situation. A situation that he didn’t need to relive. He hated it, but respected his mother’s wishes. He was learning how to walk again too. It wasn’t easy for him, since he was still in pain.</p><p>The only one who wasn't learning how to walk yet, was Faith. She was partially paralyzed from the hip down, and was using a wheelchair to get around. It wasn’t easy for her to be so dependent. She felt that Hickory needed her help, since he was blind. Bella was also about three months pregnant. She was determined to walk again, so that she could help her family.</p><p>Guy Diamond woke up in the early morning hours to a sour stomach. He grabbed his garbage can and began to get sick into it. Once he was done, he ran his bell. He didn’t want to smell it.</p><p>Amber heard her older brother get sick. She reached to her night stand and grabbed her glasses. She put them on her face. “Are you OK, big brother?” The children took turns helping Guy Diamond, since he was still healing.</p><p>“No, I’m not OK. I feel awful.” Guy Diamond set the garbage can down and groaned. “I think I caught a stomach bug.”</p><p>“I’m sorry.” Amber got up and walked over. She grabbed the garbage can and left to take care of it.</p><p>Goldie came into the room after hearing the bell. She frowned when Amber passed by her with the garbage can. She could smell the vomitus. “Feeling sick again, sweetheart?” She sat beside him and rubbed his back soothingly.</p><p>Guy Diamond snuggled into his mother and nodded slow. “I feel sick all the time now mama. Will it be like grandma, when she had cancer?”</p><p>Goldie helped her son drink some water, and then held him. “No, I don’t think it’s cancer. Why don’t you settle down and get a little more rest. We’ll figure out what’s going on in the morning, when the clinic is open.”</p><p>“Alright mama. Can you sleep with me, until then?” Guy Diamond looked up at her. He wanted his mama. He was having regular nightmares. He didn’t want to have anymore that morning.</p><p>“Yeah, I can sleep with you.” Goldie settled into the bed with her son. She held him and ran her hand through his grayed hair. He still hadn’t restored his colors. None of the victims had, yet.</p><p>Amber came back in and crawled into bed with Goldie and Guy Diamond. She set her glasses on Guy Diamond’s nightstand, and then cuddled with her mama and brother. She wanted to make her brother feel better.</p><p>Guy Diamond cuddled with his mom and sister. He slowly dozed off feeling comfort.</p><p>Later that morning, Goldie was up and carrying her son to work. Once there, she settled him down in the bathroom on the toilet. “Hold your pee a little longer son. I’ll be right back.” She left to get a pregnancy test. She didn’t want to think about being a grandma with her eleven year old son, but she knew there was a chance. He had started puberty just before the attack.</p><p>Guy Diamond held himself. He had to go badly, but his mom told him that he needed to wait so she could run a test. “Mom, I’m going to pee myself if I don’t go soon!” He whimpered and squirmed on the toilet. He teared up and sniffled as he began to pee into the toilet. “I’m peeing mom! It won’t stop!”</p><p>“Don’t panic. It’s alright.” Goldie rushed back in there and collected enough pee in a cup to do what she needed to do. She left and closed the door behind herself, to let him finish in privacy. She took the pee over to a pregnancy test and used the urine to run the test.</p><p>Guy Diamond finished in the bathroom, and then waited on the toilet for his mom to come back, since it was still hard to walk. Tears ran down his cheeks. He recalled the time Tourmaline had beaten Poppy for peeing on the floor. Not being able to hold it had brought back the horrible memory.</p><p>Goldie finished with the test and let it set on a towel. She went back into the bathroom and scooped Guy Diamond up into her arms. She carried him to a bed. She settled him down with a basin to puke in, and then went to check the test. Her heart broke when she saw that it was positive. Her eldest biological child was pregnant and she was going to be a grandma. “My poor baby…” Tears ran down her cheeks as she walked back over to his bed. “Guy? It’s going to be alright. I know what’s wrong. You’re pregnant and that’s why you feel sick to your stomach. I’ll help you get through this, son.”</p><p>“Mom, I didn’t have sex. How is that possible?” Guy Diamond looked so confused. It took a few minutes for him to realize that he had had sex. It just wasn’t consensual. “Oh wait…” He broke down and began to cry. “I’m sorry mama. I didn’t mean to.” He didn’t want to be in trouble. He was told to wait to have children until he was eighteen. He had had a few lessons in school about pregnancy, so he knew how pregnancy happened.</p><p>“It’s not your fault.” Goldie held her son. She felt deeply concerned for him.</p><p>For the remainder of the day, Goldie made phone calls and arrangements to give pregnancy tests and ultrasounds to all of the victims, except for Branch, since he was pregnant during the events. Poppy, Sassafras, Faith, Sky, and Parsley were all pregnant as well. Sky told Goldie he wasn’t surprised, considering Tourmaline had given them all fertility drugs. Guy Diamond was expecting a single baby. Poppy was expecting twins. Sassafras was expecting a single baby. Faith was expecting twins. Sky was expecting triplets. Parsley was expecting a single baby. Goldie suspected that all of the babies might have health concerns, considering that all of them had been on pain medication and other drugs during early pregnancy. One of Sky’s babies didn’t look right. It looked like he or she was missing arms. They decided that it would be watched closely for any other problems.</p><p>Queen Lily was there, despite being told to be on bedrest. She held her daughter as she cried into her arms. She was sad for her daughter and was scared. She knew that the heir to the throne wasn’t going to be from Guy Diamond. She silently prayed that it wasn’t Tourmaline’s child. She did not want that bloodline in the royal blood genepool. She had a lot of decisions to make before her grandchildren were born.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0020"><h2>20. Sweet Tooth</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Cravings get the pregnant trollings in trouble, while a preteen shows her temper to one of the new neighbors.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>About a month later, the entire village gathered at the local park, to celebrate Basil, Obsidian, and Sapphire’s twelfth birthday. Some new friends were also there, to celebrate. Even Queen Lily, summoned the strength and courage to go. She was due at any time to have her twins and so far they seemed to be doing well with weekly blood transfusions. She was warned that it would be best if she had them in the hospital, so that blood would be available, if they were to need it when they were born.</p><p>All the children were playing at the park and attempting to make friends with some of the locals. The ones struggling to adjust to living with strangers were the trollings that were disabled. The locals were not used to them playing out in public. Culture shock had been a real thing and had been a hard adjustment for them all. Especially for Basil and Sapphire.</p><p>“You can’t go on the swing, cripple. You’ll give it your disease, and I’ll catch it. I don’t want to end up like you.” A thirteen year old had shoved his way onto the swing, when Sapphire was attempting to get on it with her arms and hair. “You obviously gave it to her!” He pointed towards Faith, who was reclined in her wheelchair, to put her swollen feet up.</p><p>“What the fuck did you call me?!” Sapphire grabbed a hold of the teen and pulled him off the swing. She threw herself onto him and began swinging punches. She may have paralyzed from the middle of her back, down, but it didn’t stop her from defending herself physically.</p><p>The teenager looked surprised when Sapphire pulled him off and began beating him angrily. He wasn’t expecting her to be so strong. He pushed her off and tried to get away. He yelped when she grabbed him by her hair.</p><p>“You’re not leaving, until I’m done beating the shit out of you for calling me a cripple!” Sapphire snapped angrily as she crawled towards him. She pulled him down and sank her teeth into him. She was livid.</p><p>Basil listened to the fight and smirked. He was waiting for Sapphire to finish, so he could have a turn. He didn’t want to hurt her by accident. “You mess with the bee and you’re bound to get stung.”</p><p>“Sapphire! That’s enough!” Goldie hurried over and peeled her daughter off of the beaten teenager. “What’s going on?!”</p><p>“I’m getting out of here!” The teenager got up and bolted, before Sapphire tore into him again.</p><p>“He called me a cripple!” Sapphire snapped angrily. She glared at the teenager as he retreated. “Don’t fuck with me again! I won’t be as nice next time!”</p><p>Basil went to take off, after the teen, when Goldie grabbed a hold of him. He growled and struggled in her grasp. “He needs to learn a lesson! Let me go mom!”</p><p>“Enough! He’s got a black eye and a bite mark. I’m sure he understands his mistake. Haven’t aunt Mercy and I taught you how to use your words?!” Goldie glared at her son and daughter. They both had impressive tempers. She had a feeling Faith had taught them how to fight like that. She certainly hadn’t.</p><p>“I’d rather shred bullies to shreds. He deserves a good ass whooping. If he messes with our family again, I won’t be so nice.” Sapphire grumbled as she worked her way back onto her chair. She frowned when she saw blood on the chair. She blushed as she pulled a hand towel out of her hair. She laid it on her seat, before promptly sitting down. It wasn’t her first period, but she was still getting used to dealing with it monthly. She was embarrassed.</p><p>“I’m not letting another family member get hurt…” Basil grumbled angrily. He was still livid that he hadn’t left with Guy Diamond when he went on his walk with all the other children. He felt that he could have protected them, even though he was just a kid himself.</p><p>Goldie spotted the blood, just before Sapphire covered it. She sighed and looked down at her. “No wonder you’re grouchy. Go on and play. Stay out of trouble!”</p><p>While Sapphire and Basil had Goldie preoccupied, Guy Diamond walked over to the cake and took a huge slice. He crawled under the table and sat next to Poppy. He handed her a fork and helped her eat it. They had been told that they had had enough sweets for the day, but both of them were still hungry for cake. Poppy was especially craving sugar. She had been eating popsicles between meals and was often found with a lollipop in her mouth. Her mom was trying to get her to cut back on so much sugar, because she needed nutrients and so did her babies. She was still growing.</p><p>Guy Diamond finished his portion of the cake, and then snuggled with Poppy. He had been clingy and worried that she might hate him for what happened, even though he tried hard to protect her. It worried him that she had chosen not to talk anymore.</p><p>Poppy finished the rest of the cake, and then cuddled right up to Guy Diamond. She still hadn’t said a word to anyone, even though she could. She just couldn’t get the words to come out. She had a lot of anxiety after what had happened.</p><p>“Poppy?! Where did you go?!” Queen Lily was suddenly worried about her daughter. Tourmaline was still on the loose. She didn’t want to lose her again. She looked around for her and gasped when she stepped on a piece of cake. She checked under the table and frowned. “I told you that the last slice was enough. You should have had a piece of fruit or vegetable.”</p><p>Guy Diamond domed his hair around Poppy and let out a whimper. He didn’t want his Poppy to be in trouble. He had been extra protective of her lately. Especially after finding out she was pregnant.</p><p>Poppy shrank when her mother scolded her. She pressed into Guy Diamond and swallowed hard. She was still dealing with a lot of anxiety. She was worried that her mother would punish her, even though her mother had never struck her before.</p><p>“Poppy…” Queen Lily looked at the hair dome. She was proud of Guy Diamond for protecting Poppy, but she needed to talk to her daughter. “Please understand that I’m trying to protect you and your twins. If you don’t eat right, you could get sick and your babies could have health problems. I want the best for you and the little ones.”</p><p>“She wanted cake.” Guy Diamond grumbled crankily. He didn’t quite understand why Poppy was in trouble. He just wanted to help her.</p><p>Poppy let out a soft sigh. She was pretty sure she understood, but it was so hard. She wanted sugar. Her body was demanding it. She crawled out of Guy Diamond’s hair and out from under the table. She stiffly stood up since she was still healing and hugged into her mother. She teared up and sniffled. She didn’t want her mama to be mad at her.</p><p>“Oh Poppy…” Queen Lily held her daughter. It broke her heart, seeing her so sad and scared. She missed her optimistic and cheerful daughter. She had been so different since the attack. She wondered if she would get her daughter back and if she would ever hear her beautiful voice again. “I’ve got you, my sweet girl. I’m so worried about you.” She began to sing to her, in hopes of easing her troubled mind.</p><p>Poppy cuddled with her mom. She could feel her baby brother and sister as they stretched in their mama. She sniffled and closed her eyes as she listened to her mom sing. She felt safe in her arms. She hoped that it never went away.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>This is the song that Queen Lily sang. I do not own the song. All credit goes to the creators!</p><p>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ozSS5ds-098</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0021"><h2>21. A Lesson On Child Birth</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Poppy, Guy Diamond, and Sassafras get an unexpected lesson on what they will experience soon.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Shortly after catching Poppy under the table with a finished plate of cake, Queen Lily settled down beside Goldie at the picnic table. She put her hand on her belly as it tightened up. She thought she was having false labor contractions, since they felt light to her. She smiled when Poppy sat beside her and cuddled into her. “Goldie, Poppy has been craving a lot of sugar. Do you have suggestions? I want the best for her and my grandbabies. She seems to understand that.” She really wished that Poppy would talk to her, so she could understand her wants and needs. It was so hard to guess what her daughter needed. She was glad Sassafras was talking. The twelve year old had finally completely restored his vision, and wasn’t afraid to express his wants and needs. Unlike Poppy, he was craving a lot of salty foods. It was much easier to meet his nutritional needs by sprinkling a little extra salt on his food.</p><p>“You could juice fruit and vegetables and put some sugar in the juice. Freeze it in the popsicle molds. It’s summer and I’ve seen her eating a lot of popsicles lately. I can make some to have available in our freezer too. Guy Diamond has been eating them as well.” Goldie reached over and rubbed Poppy’s back. “Would you like some grape juice popsicles?” She remembered seeing that Poppy was going for grape flavored popsicles. She was pretty sure she could sneak in some beet juice to help with nutrients.</p><p>Poppy cracked a smile and nodded. She liked that idea. She was willing to do what they wanted. She did understand the need to keep herself and her babies safe.</p><p>Queen Lily smiled when her daughter smiled. It was so nice to see her smile. It had rarely happened anymore. She suddenly frowned when she felt her water break. She eased herself up from the picnic table and looked at where she was sitting. It was wet. “My waters just broke.” She gasped during a strong contraction. She cringed and leaned on the picnic table. She whimpered in pain. She wasn’t feeling this much pain before her waters broke.</p><p>Goldie got up and rubbed Queen Lily’s back as she had a contraction. “Looks like it’s time to head to the hospital. I’ll take you.”</p><p>Poppy put her hands over her mouth when her mom whimpered. She got up and hugged her gently. She suddenly looked very worried.</p><p>“It’s alright Poppy. Mama is just having your brother and sister.” Queen Lily straightened up when the contraction ended and held her daughter. “Why don’t you come with me and see what it’s all about?”</p><p>Poppy nodded and put her hand on her mama’s belly. She looked up when it hardened.</p><p>“That’s a contraction.” Queen Lily’s face scrunched as she resisted the urge to scream in pain. She didn’t want to frighten her pregnant daughter. “Those help the babies come out.” She glanced at the time and frowned when she realized that those two contractions were only about a minute apart. “They seem to be in a hurry.” She looked deeply concerned. She didn’t want to have them outside.</p><p>Goldie rushed back with her first aid kit and some blankets, just in case. She knew how fast labor could be for a mother who had had multiple pregnancies. “Let’s go. We need to get you to the hospital before they decide to come.”</p><p>Poppy looked at Goldie. “Is my mama OK?” She whispered. She was so worried about her mama, that she had to ask. She startled at her own voice. She hadn’t heard it in nearly three months.</p><p>“I’m alright sweetheart.” Queen Lily was so glad to hear her daughter’s voice. She took Poppy’s hand and headed in the direction of the hospital when her contraction stopped. She didn’t make it far, before stopping and leaning up against a tree. She couldn’t help but holler in pain during this contraction. “They’re not waiting, Goldie!” She crouched slightly and began pushing. Her legs quivered under her. She was so worried about her twins and wanted Peppy.</p><p>“That was a fast labor.” Goldie gently removed Lily’s panties. She barely got them off, when the first twin’s head came out. “Hello sweetheart.” She caught him as he was released from within his mother. She gave him to his mama and began cleaning him up.</p><p>The newborn boy looked just like King Peppy. He was a little weak and anemic, but was strong enough to let out soft cries.</p><p>Poppy watched with wide eyes. She had to do that in about four and a half months and that terrified her. She quivered in fear. “That’s a lot of blood…” She whimpered due to the concern for her mama and her future.</p><p>“I’m alright sweetheart. Come look at your baby brother.” Queen Lily was worried too, but didn’t want to scare her daughter.</p><p>Sassafras came over to investigate. He came just in time to see his baby sister’s legs come dangling out from his mama. His eyes went wide. “I thought they were going to be born in the hospital?!”</p><p>Guy Diamond was’t far behind Sassafras. He had left to go to the bathroom and got worried when Poppy wasn’t where he had left her. He watched on with a look of surprise.</p><p>“The twins decided to come out in front of half the city.” Queen Lily laughed nervously. She whimpered and pushed for her daughter. She was not yet aware that the newborn was coming out backwards.</p><p>Goldie got the boy clean and then checked the girl. She looked worried as she eased her arms out and let gravity help her. She didn’t want Lily to lose this baby. She didn’t need to lose any more babies at all. “Push, Lily. Your daughter’s head is still inside of you.”</p><p>Queen Lily bared down and pushed for the girl. She yelped as she emerged. She was shaking from anxiety and pain. “We need to get them to the hospital, now.” She had had one girl that was born alive between Poppy and the twins, but she had died not long after being born. She feared the same fate for her twins.</p><p>Goldie put the girl in Lily’s arms and cleaned her up a bit, before gently picking her up. She rushed towards the hospital with them. “I’m on it Lily.”</p><p>The newborn girl let out weak cries. She looked like Poppy, but had Peppy’s yellow nose. She was also anemic and was in need of blood.</p><p>Poppy, Sassafras, and Guy Diamond looked worried as they followed Mama Goldie. They wanted to make sure that Queen Lily and her babies were OK.</p><p>Goldie got Queen Lily to the hospital as fast as she could. She settled her on an emergency room bed and rushed out to get blood and fluids for the newborns. So far, they were fighting to live.</p><p>Queen Lily was quickly swarmed by concerned nurses. She explained to them what happened and growled angrily when one of the nurses tried to take her twins. “They’re staying with me!”</p><p>“Leave my brother and sister alone.” Sassafras got between the nurses and his mama. He domed his hair around them. He wasn’t going to let anyone touch them.</p><p>Guy Diamond and Poppy were by the wall. Guy Diamond was comforting Poppy. She was shaking and very worried.</p><p>Goldie came back in and shooed Sassafras away. “They’re trying to help. Please trust them Lily. They’ll be OK.” She set up blood, fluids, and warm blankets for the newborns. When the twins were moved to a bassinet, she set up an intravenous line through their umbilical cords stumps. She began giving them fluids and blood. “We got them here in time. They’re going to be alright.”</p><p>Queen Lily watched with wide, worried eyes. She choked out a sob when both babies began to cry louder than before. “They’re names are Pepper and Paprika.” She wanted to stick with names that started with a P in Peppy’s honor.</p><p>Once the babies were stable, they were given back to their mama. Queen Lily set them up to nurse and watched them with a smile. “Your father loved you so much. I’m going to tell you all about him. He would have loved to have held you both.”</p><p>Poppy crawled into the bed with her mother and watched her nurse her baby brother and sister. She smiled and ran her hand through her brother’s magenta colored hair. She loved that Pepper looked so much like their daddy. She was going to miss him so much. She hoped that Pepper was just like him. She looked forward to being the best big sister ever.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0022"><h2>22. Tough Love</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>An injured trolling gets the help he needs.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Not long after Queen Lily, her children, and Goldie had left to tend to her twins, the party began to break up and trolls began to head home. Branch noticed that one of the trollings was missing. It was his two year old son, Tanzanite. He told Tsunami and then worked with him to look for the toddler. They both hoped that he hadn’t gotten himself into trouble.</p><p>Tanzanite hadn’t gone far. He was in a bush with the same teenager who had bullied Sapphire. He was cuddled up to him. He had found him while exploring. He felt a need to protect him because he had gotten hurt. </p><p>The teenager’s name was Pi. He had tucked himself into the bush, after he talked to his mother after the fight with Sapphire. His mother had scolded him for letting the young trolling hurt him. The punishment had gone too far, and Pi’s arm was fractured. He hid from his mother and was afraid to go back home. It hadn’t been the first time he had been beaten and his mother had taught him a lot of bad manners. The peach, almost white trolling had white, yellow, and orange three toned hair. He had welcomed Tanzanite’s cuddles. He wanted comfort.</p><p>“Tanzanite…” Branch called his son. He was worried that he might have been kidnapped. He couldn’t believe he took his eyes off his youngest. He wasn’t sure what he would do if he lost him. “I should have watched him better. Goldie’s going to kill me.”</p><p>“She won’t kill you. I’m sure he’s fine. He’s smart, like his parents.” Tsunami tried to stay optimistic as he looked around. He had recently restored his colors, due to the joy of being pregnant with his and Branch’s baby. He was worried about Tanzanite too. They were going to have their delayed wedding in a week. Tanzanite was supposed to be their ring bearer. He didn’t want anything to happen to their precious toddler.</p><p>“Daddy…” Tanzanite got up and looked outside the bush. “Daddy! I’m here!” He waved to him and then toddled back over to Pi. He didn’t want to leave him.</p><p>Pi looked up when he heard Branch. He frowned and looked at the toddler. “You should go kid. I don’t want you to get into trouble. My mom won’t be nice if she finds you with me.”</p><p>Branch saw Tanzanite before he went back into the bush. He sighed in relief and walked over to the bush. “Why are you in there? You’re going to get covered in spider webbing.” He followed his son into the bushes. He frowned when he saw the teenager. He recognized him. He was the same trolling that fought with his daughter earlier. “What did you do with my baby?!” He glared at him. He hoped this kid didn’t hurt his son.</p><p>Tsunami followed Branch and eyed the teenager. “Did you hurt him?!”</p><p>“No daddy, I helped.” Tanzanite cuddled into Pi. “He has an owwie...” He looked very sad for his new friend.</p><p>Pi tensed up and avoided eye contact. He remembered watching the family. They were full of disabled trolls. His mother had lied to him and told him that their disabilities were contagious. He was scared that he was going to end up like them. “I’m fine! Go away!”</p><p>“Come on Tanzanite. We need to go.” Branch picked up his son carefully with his right arm and held him to his hip. He turned to go. He wanted his baby away from Pi. He ignored his son’s cries when Tanzanite demanded he be with Pi.</p><p>Tsunami moved closer and glared down at Pi. “Did you hurt him?! You were rude to our daughter! What do you have to say for yourself?!” He grabbed the boy’s injured arm. He didn’t know it was broken.</p><p>Pi screamed in pain and fear. He kicked up dirt and tried to squirm away from Tsunami without hurting his arm more. “I didn’t hurt him!” Tears ran down his cheeks. He was terrified that he would get another beating. When Tsunami let go, he shifted to the base of the bush and trembled as he held his injured arm. “Go away!”</p><p>Tsunami looked confused, until he realized that Pi’s arm was broken. “I’m sorry kid. I didn’t know you were that hurt. Did Sapphire do this to you?”</p><p>Pi shook his head and whimpered. He was afraid to move. His arm was throbbing in pain.</p><p>“What happened? Did you fall?” Tsunami knelt down and checked the boy over. He appeared to have a lot of old and fresh bruises. Injuries he hadn’t seen from where he was sitting at the park. He immediately suspected abuse.</p><p>“No…” Pi swallowed hard. He got up and tried to leave the bush. He looked worried when Tsunami blocked him from leaving. “Let me go!” He tried to bolt, but Tsunami caught him. He screeched as he was scooped up and carried.</p><p>“Easy kid. Calm down. I’m trying to help. I’m pregnant so I don’t need you squirming like that.” Tsunami carried him over to Bella. “Bella, I have a suspected abuse case for you.” He set Pi down, but didn’t let him go.</p><p>“Pi?!” Bella frowned and looked him over. “Did they give you to your mother?! She wasn’t supposed to get you back!” She frowned when she saw the fractured arm. She looked up at Tsunami. “Long story short, I fostered this kid when he was five. His mom pushed him down a flight of stairs. His grandpa got custody of him and I haven’t seen him since…”</p><p>“Grandpa died when I was ten. Mom took me back then.” Pi whispered. He remembered Bella and missed cuddling with her and Magnus when he was with them as a little kid.</p><p>“I think he’s got a broken arm. We need to get him to the hospital.” Tsunami got ready to go and then walked Pi towards the hospital. It wasn’t far away.</p><p>Bella walked with them, to make sure Pi got to the hospital. She didn’t like that he was with his mother again. She was going to get to work on getting him away from her again. “You should have never been replaced with your mom. I’m so sorry, Pi.”</p><p>Pi walked with Bella and looked around nervously. He hoped his mom didn’t find them. She was cruel and possessive. He knew she would be livid if she saw him with the trolls that she called cripples. He didn’t want to face her wrath again.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0023"><h2>23. Distractions</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>A wedding brings awkward and happy distractions for many.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>For the next week, Pi was treated at the hospital, put in an arm cast, and his care was taken over by Bella, Faith, and Hickory. His mother was arrested under charges of assault, neglect, and abuse. Bella started fighting for custody to get Pi. She didn’t want him to deal with her ever again. Half way through the week, her attempts were temporarily interrupted. She had given birth to a son, who looked just like Hickory. She named him Dock in memory of his uncle, Dickory. The interruption didn’t stop Faith, however. Now that Bella was busy with a newborn, she took over making phone calls and arrangements. Despite being disabled and pregnant, Faith took advantage of her degree in child welfare, since she had originally planned to be Bella’s partner before she had left the city twelve years earlier. She was going to make sure Pi was put where he would be safe. She hoped that he could stay with them. She knew they could provide him a safe and loving home.</p><p>Pi was still under court protection and was watched closely. He wasn’t sure what to do about all these sudden changes in his life. He was getting better food and care, now that he was with a caring family. He spent a lot of time hiding from everyone due to fear and uncertainty. Bella had to reassure him that he couldn’t catch the disabilities that he saw among her family and friends. She told him that all of them had either had the disability at birth, like Sapphire, or were injured later on in life. Reassurances that were not yet accepted. The teenager was having major trust issues. Life in general hadn’t been kind to him. His grandpa had been his best friend. He didn’t think he could trust anyone else ever again.</p><p>Even with everything that was going on with Pi, life still needed to move on. Branch, Goldie, and Tsunami prepared for their wedding day as scheduled. They didn’t want to have any more delays, since Tsunami was nearly four months pregnant. The family and friends gathered at the park once again for the special occasion. Goldie decided not to wear a dress this time. It was the hottest part of the year. She didn’t want to faint. None of the glitter trolls had clothes on at all.</p><p>Tanzanite had his pillow with the rings tied onto it. He squirmed near the back as he waited for the OK to walk towards the altar. He ended up sitting next to Pi. The toddler had taken a liking to him and wanted to be with him, even though Pi kept trying to convince him that he wasn’t fun to be around.</p><p>“Go on, Tanzanite. Get up there and give Cloud the pillow.” Faith helped Tanzanite to his feet and nudged him towards the altar when it was time. She watched as he toddled towards Cloud. She glanced at Pi and frowned when she saw that he was holding himself. “Go to the bathroom, kid. It’s alright.” She whispered to him. She didn’t want him to have an accident.</p><p>Pi blushed when Faith told him to use the toilet. That wasn’t why he was holding himself. He could smell something nearby that was making his member swollen. Teenage hormones and the fact he was going into rut were not helping him. He didn’t want anyone to see it, so he was holding himself to hide it. “I can hold it.” He whispered.</p><p>Faith didn’t look convinced, but did drop it. She didn’t want to interrupt the wedding.</p><p>After the wedding was over, the children were released to go play. Pi remained in his seat as he watched everyone else go. He wasn’t sure about going anywhere. He wanted to go hide, but didn’t want to get in trouble either. He startled when he saw Sapphire move closer to him. He avoided eye contact. He hoped that if he didn’t look at her, she wouldn’t attack him. His arm was still painful.</p><p>Sapphire parked next to Pi. She smiled and waved to Faith, before looking at Pi. “I heard about your mom. I think I understand what was going on now. You know, I’m not as mean as I probably appear. If I had known…”</p><p>“I’m sorry…” Pi interrupted before he swallowed hard. He was glad she came over so he could apologize, but she scared him a lot. “Please go away…” He flushed when she took his good hand. He looked up at her with worried, yellow and orange heterochromia eyes.</p><p>“I forgive you.” Sapphire caressed his hand. “You need a friend…” She looked into his dual colored eyes and smiled at him. “You have beautiful eyes. I didn’t notice last week, when I was angry with you. I’m surprised you didn’t hit me back. When I wrestle with my brothers, they fight back.” She took a breath, through her nose. She picked up on his scent. She squirmed, feeling feelings she hadn’t felt before. She didn't know what to do with it.</p><p>“I’ll be a bad friend.” Pi tried hard not to tremble in fear. “My grandpa taught me not to hit a girl. Mom told me grandpa was a horrible teacher. I don’t believe her but she’s my mom...” He could smell that Sapphire had a strong scent. It wasn’t helping his hormones. He released Sapphire’s hand and once again hid his swollen member. It was starting to twitch.</p><p>“Your grandpa is right. You shouldn’t hit a girl.” Faith reached over and rubbed Pi’s back. She frowned, seeing that he was holding himself again. “You can go to the bathroom now. The wedding is over.”</p><p>Sapphire smiled softly. “I think you’d be a good friend. I just misunderstood you.” </p><p>Pi startled when Faith touched his back. “I can’t move. I’ll be in trouble.” He had been scolded before due to not being able to control his penis. He wasn’t able to get it to settle like he wanted it to.</p><p>“I won’t let anyone else hurt you. Go ahead…” Faith smiled at him, in hopes of encouraging him. He seemed very uncomfortable.</p><p>Sapphire backed off, thinking she might be scaring him. “See you later, Pi.” She wheeled off, to go play. She decided she would try again later.</p><p>Pi watched Sapphire go, and then looked at Faith. “I need new pants.” He admitted with tears in his eyes. He felt wet, even though he hadn’t peed himself. He had cummed in his pants.</p><p>Pi wasn’t the first teenager Faith had been around, so it didn’t take long to figure out what was really wrong. “Oh…” She smiled softly, before handing him one of the towels that she had brought just in case the kids played in water. “No harm done, Pi. Wrap yourself up. We can make a quick trip home.” She propelled towards their apartment. She wondered if Pi had had the talk. She had to find out soon, so he didn’t get himself into trouble.</p><p>Pi wrapped his midsection with the towel, and then followed her. He was nervous and hoped that Faith wasn’t mad. He didn’t mean to mess in his pants.</p><p>Sapphire wasn’t the only one in heat. Hope was in her second heat cycle since her surgery. It was driving Smidge crazy. She wanted to pounce on her wife, but Hope had told them that she wanted to wait until she was three months out of surgery. She was hoping she could get Hope to change her mind. She walked over to Hope and hugged into her. She murmured that she wanted to go home.</p><p>“Are you alright?” Hope knelt down and looked Smidge over. Smidge never complained. She was worried something might be wrong.</p><p>“I just want to go home.” Smidge snuggled with her and smiled as she played with Hope’s breast.</p><p>“I see…” Hope blushed and stood up, to remove Smidge’s hand from her breast. “Not yet…” She retreated to stand next to Biggie. She wasn’t ready to try for a baby. She was afraid that she would lose another.</p><p>Smidge wasn’t about to give up. She worked on getting drinks for all three of them. She knew they would probably know what she wanted to do, so she added extra liquor to their drinks. She walked over to them and gave them their drinks. She was hoping to get Hope to relax.</p><p>Hope and Biggie eyed Smidge. They both knew what she was up to. They whispered to each other, before deciding to drink a little bit, but not enough to lose control. They didn’t want to do anything that they might regret.</p><p>Smidge began to drink. She was off her contraceptives. She wanted to have a baby at or around the same time as Hope.</p><p>Making the drinks stronger had worked. Biggie and Hope ended up drinking a couple of drinks, before losing track of how much they had drunk. By the end of the reception, they were staggering drunk. Smidge made sure that their four children went to bed, before leading her mates to their bedrooms. She got undressed and grabbed some massaging oil. She wanted to get Hope and Biggie in the mood.</p><p>Hope saw the oil. She groaned and crawled into the bed. She wasn’t going to turn down a back message.</p><p>“Smidge, I lost my pants.” Biggie stumbled into the bedroom and blinked a few times when he saw that Hope’s back was exposed and Smidge was rubbing her hands with messaging oil. Both is wives were naked. A temptation his drunk mind couldn’t resist. He smiled and crawled into bed. “I love my sexy wives.” He gave Smidge a kiss, before helping her fix Hope’s back.</p><p>Smidge worked on Hope’s back for a while, before testing between her legs. She groaned, smelling her heat. She fingered her gently and whimpered. “You’ve got me hot and bothered…” She kissed along Hope’s inner thigh as she played with Hope’s vulva.</p><p>“That feels so good…” Hope murmured as Smidge worked on messaging her vulva. She spread her legs and shuddered in delight as Smidge’s tiny fingers ran along her sensitive clitoris.</p><p>Biggie began kissing Hope’s back and neck. He began nibbling on her ear and rubbed his member as it swelled up. He was just as hot and bothered over her heat as Smidge was. He kissed her when Hope lifted her head up. He exchanged saliva with her and whispered that he loved her.</p><p>Smidge began fingering Hope. She moved out of the way when Hope rolled onto her back. She moved to Hope’s breasts and began suckling on one of them eagerly.</p><p>Hope rolled onto her back and pulled Biggie closer. She kissed him eagerly and rubbed his member gently. She reached down and began to finger Smidge’s vulva gently. “Smidge is wet…”</p><p>“Smidge has to wait her turn. I need to spoil you.” Biggie shifted so he was hovered over Hope. He pushed his length into her and held her as he rocked his hips. He moaned and kissed her hungrily. He was very pleased and was happy to make Hope feel good. They hadn’t mated for a while, because she was recovering.</p><p>Smidge didn’t mind waiting. She switched breasts on Hope and suckled on it. She moaned at the feeling of her wife’s fingers as they ran along her vulva and teased her inner walls. She gasped when she felt one of Hope’s fingers slip into her. She grasped onto Hope and moaned as she finger thrusted her.</p><p>The three continued to mate well into the night, before snuggling up to get some sleep. All three of them were pleased and happy to have each other. They had needed the stress free mating for a long time.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0024"><h2>24. Finding Peace</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Poppy makes a new friend.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>For the next month, everyone worked together to help Pi, while also continuing to help the victims of Tourmaline’s attack. Faith began taking Pi with her to therapy appointments. She went to them to help cope with not only the attack from Tourmaline, but to also deal with her childhood trauma and what she considered inconveniences between those traumatic experiences.</p><p>The therapy was helping Pi a lot. He didn’t pay much attention to them at first, but as he learned more about Faith’s past, the more he realized that they shared a few things in common with her. Both of them had dealt with a family member betraying them. He began to open up and talked about being sexually abused by his own mother along with the emotional and physical abuse. He started giving his foster family member’s hugs and was starting to trust them. He still had a long way to go before he was relaxed. He had had a rough childhood.</p><p>Poppy was also going to therapy. The experience she dealt with was so troubling for the young princess that she was having nightmares several times a night, and was still struggling with everyday tasks. She was four months pregnant and was getting a noticeably round belly. She talked about her concerns over the birth of her babies, how she would raise them since she was still a kid, and worry over how other trolls would react to the fact that she was a twelve year old mother, with an eleven year old boyfriend who would have his baby before he even turned twelve years old himself. It was a lot for the young princess.</p><p>Banana, Delta Dawn, and Clampers were also going to therapy, along with all the other victims that were attacked by Tourmaline. They had all been through a lot. Hickory even sat in with some of Faith’s appointments, to talk about Dickory. Dickory had left behind several journals, full of disconcerting accounts of his short stay with Tourmaline. Much like the other victims, Dickory had been raped, tortured, and beaten, along with being mutilated. Facts that shook Hickory to his core. He still couldn’t believe that his father was such a horrible troll. It really bothered him that Tourmaline hadn’t been found. The massive hunt to find him still remained unsuccessful.</p><p>One morning, when Faith came in for an appointment with Pi, she saw that Lily was in with Poppy. She had her twins with her. She parked her wheelchair next to Lily’s seat and carefully stood up. She shifted into a seat next to Poppy. She was still having a hard time walking, but she was having an easier time transferring. “How is our beautiful Princess Poppy today?”</p><p>Pi sat by Lily and looked at Paprika and Pepper as they cuddled with their mama. He was curious, but refrained from touching. He didn’t want to cause any trouble.</p><p>“I’m tired…” Poppy watched Pi’s gaze. She was already fiercely protective of her baby brother and sister. She reached over and cuddled into Lily. She didn’t want anything to happen to them. She was feeling a little paranoid. Pi was still considered a stranger to her and she knew what he did to Sapphire. Tourmaline had broken her trust.</p><p>“More nightmares…” Lily shifted Paprika, before gently giving her to Faith to hold. She then gently gave Pepper to Pi, since he seemed interested. She made sure to have Pepper comfortable in Pi’s arms since Pi had a broken arm. “Make sure to support his whole body. Like this.” She helped him get into a good position, and then pulled Poppy into a hug. She held her eldest. She was still very worried about her.</p><p>Faith watched Pi’s face and smiled. Pi had held Dock a few times, so he knew what to do. He seemed to love helping with his foster brother.</p><p>Pi was surprised, as he held Pepper firmly, but gently. He still had a cast on his broken arm that was going to come off soon. It made holding Pepper a little awkward, but he managed. He was glad Lily trusted him with her baby, because she was very nice. “He’s cute…”</p><p>“That’s my baby brother.” Poppy watched with fused brows. She wanted to go take Pepper from Pi, however, Lily had a good hold of her.</p><p>“Relax Poppy. He’s doing a good job.” Lily could see a little fire in Poppy’s eyes. A spark that she hadn’t seen in a while. She had a feeling that maternal instincts were kicking in. Poppy wanted to protect Pepper from Pi, since she didn’t know him that well, yet. She didn’t blame her, however, Lily knew that Pi was actually a good boy, who just had a bit of a temper and was taught some terrible things. She knew Bella, Faith, and Hickory were working hard to reverse the damages that were done.</p><p>“Pi loves helping with Dock. He seems to like babies.” Faith rubbed Paprika’s back and chuckled when her twins kicked at Paprika’s bottom. “They’re already kicking her in the butt.”</p><p>Pi watched Poppy for a few minutes, before shifting his gaze to Faith. “The twins are kicking her?” He smiled when Faith nodded. “They’re feisty, like their mama.” He had figured out quickly that Faith had a temper and was feisty. She had scared him at first, but he was starting to figure out that she was just a very protective mama.</p><p>Poppy broke loose from Lily and gently took her brother back. She held him and glared at Pi. “I heard that you were mean to Sapphire. I don’t want you hurting my brother too.” She walked away from Pi and sat by Lily.</p><p>Lily watched as her daughter scooped up her month old son and moved him away from Pi. She couldn’t help but smile. Poppy was proving to be a great and protective big sister. She was far more protective then she needed to be. “Poppy, you know he apologized…”</p><p>“She’s right. I was mean. I’m sorry.” Pi looked away and frowned. He still felt guilty for falling for his mother’s horrible ways. He was trying so hard to change. Tears threatened, which had him tense. He didn’t like crying in public. He used to get yelled at for expressing the wrong emotions in public.</p><p>“You’re learning how to treat others that are different, aren’t you Pi?” Faith took a tissue out of her hair and reached over to wipe Pi’s tears away.</p><p>Poppy saw the tears in Pi’s eyes. She sighed and looked down at Pepper. “I know he apologized. I want Pepper safe.”</p><p>“He is safe, sweetheart.” Lily gently took Pepper when he began to fuss. “Why don’t you go give him a hug? He apologized to you.”</p><p>Pi blushed when Faith wiped his face. He glanced up at her and sniffled. “I don’t need my face tended to. I’m thirteen years old. I can do it myself.”</p><p>“Blow your nose, big boy.” Faith gave the tissue to him and then turned to give him privacy. She was glad he did express his limits to the babying. He needed to put boundaries up. It was healthy that way.</p><p>Poppy got up and walked over to Pi. She waited until he blew his nose, before hugging into him. She smiled when he hugged her back. He seemed to need a friend. She couldn’t imagine being abused by her parents. “Apology accepted…”</p><p>Pi hugged her back and cracked a smile. “You give warm hugs.” He could feel her twins move. He heard that a few of the kids had been raped and were pregnant. He wondered if Poppy was one of them. He felt movement in her, like he often felt when he hugged Faith.</p><p>“I can give them as often as you like. You need a friend.” Poppy squeezed him a little tighter, before letting go and smiling at him. She backed away and then went to go sit down. Hugging Pi made her feel better too.</p><p>“I’d like to be your friend.” Pi watched her walk over to her seat. She was still gray from the attack, so he didn’t even know her true colors. He wondered what color she was. He decided he needed to help her get her colors back. He knew friends made their friends happy. He was determined to make her happy again. As her new friend, he felt it was his duty.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0025"><h2>25. A Busy Day</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Queen Lily prepares for a wedding.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>For the next month, Pi tried everything he could to make Poppy happy again. Something that wasn’t going over well for Guy Diamond. The two boys ended up fighting over her a few times over it. Queen Lily had a feeling that Guy Diamond was feeling insecure about his relationship with Poppy, so she pushed for their wedding day to be sooner than planned. She wanted the preteens to marry young anyway, before their babies arrived, so that their children were not born out of wedlock. They were still going to remain children though, and there were no plans of moving them into their own home. They were far too young for that.</p><p>Silk had her work cut out for her. Making sure Poppy’s wedding dress fit properly was a challenge due to her enlarged belly. Guy Diamond was easier for her, since all she had to do for him was give him a bow to put around his neck.</p><p>As the family gathered at the church to watch the wedding, Guy Diamond began to feel uncomfortable cramps in his belly. He told his mom about it. Goldie excused it as nerves, since she wasn’t feeling contractions when she checked him over.</p><p>Cloud was happy to marry the children. Although they were young, he understood the need to do it before their children arrived. He went through the whole routine, before telling them that they were allowed to kiss.</p><p>Guy Diamond was tickled pink that he finally got permission to kiss his Poppy. He locked lips with her and held her awkwardly, since they were both five months pregnant. His colors began to restore. He was happy to be married to his Poppy.</p><p>Poppy kissed him back and giggled when he snuggled with her. She was happy that she was married and that Guy Diamond had restored his colors. They had talked about getting married for a few years, even though they were just kids. Her colors began restoring as well. She was a happy girl.</p><p>Everyone cheered with joy. Pi let out whoops of happiness. He may not have helped restore Poppy’s colors, but it was good to see that she was happy again. He never meant to make Guy Diamond feel insecure. He was just trying to help.</p><p>Guy Diamond let the kiss go and looked down when he felt a gush of fluid escape him. He frowned and blushed, before retreating to go to the bathroom. He was embarrassed and wasn’t sure why he was leaking fluids.</p><p>Goldie got up and followed her son to the bathroom. She had seen the fluids and was worried that his waters may have broken. If that was the case, they needed to get him to the hospital. His baby wasn’t due for a month. If she was coming, she was going to be severely premature. “Son? Let me see.” She followed him in and checked his birthing site. It was wet. “Your waters broke son. I’ll take you to the hospital.” She led him out of the bathroom and explained to Branch what was going on, before hurrying out the door with her son. She was worried about her granddaughter and her son.</p><p>Poppy looked alarmed. She was married to her husband for less than five minutes, and he was already being ushered away. She went to follow Goldie. She wanted to make sure Guy Diamond was OK.</p><p>Guy Diamond had tears running down his cheeks. He knew what it meant when his mother said his water broke. His baby was coming. It scared him more that his mom seemed to be panicked. “Is the baby going to be OK, mom?” He hadn’t even named her yet. He was waiting to see what she looked like. He whimpered and turned to her during a contraction. “Those pains are getting worse, mom.”</p><p>“I’m not sure son. She’s going to be premature.” Goldie held her son as he had a contraction. She wished now that she had made Guy Diamond rest, instead of getting married. The excitement over the wedding may have contributed to his labor.</p><p>Poppy stopped next to Guy Diamond and Goldie. “Is everything alright?” She looked deeply concerned.</p><p>“Goldie? What can I do to help?” Mercy hurried over and rubbed Guy Diamond’s back soothingly. She was worried about his baby.</p><p>“I’m scared…” Guy Diamond burst into tears and began to cry. He looked up at his mom when she picked him up and began to carry him. He rested his head on her shoulder and sniffled.</p><p>“Follow me. Poppy, Guy’s having his baby. She’s early, so we need to get to the hospital to make sure she arrives safely.” Goldie rushed towards the hospital. “Mercy, I need you to help me with him. I want to hold his hand. I trust you to deliver the baby. I don’t want anyone else to do it.”</p><p>Poppy followed Goldie. She wanted to make sure that her daughter came out OK. She was worried about her and Guy Diamond.</p><p>“No problem Goldie. I’ll meet you in the labor and delivery wing. Room one hundred and three.” Mercy ran ahead, to get ready. She wanted Guy Diamond to be as comfortable as physically possible. She knew it wasn’t going to be easy for the youngster.</p><p>Guy Diamond cringed during another contraction. He cried as he grasped onto his mama. He was warned that labor would hurt, but nothing could have prepared him for this.</p><p>“I know sweetheart. I’ve got you. Mama’s going to make sure you get through this OK.” Goldie ran until she got into the hospital. She headed for the labor and delivery wing, and went to the room her sister told her to go to. She went inside and gently settled him on the bed. She sat down beside him and held his hand. “I want you to breathe steadily each time you have a contraction. I’m right here for you.”</p><p>Poppy crawled into bed with Guy Diamond and snuggled into him. She was so worried about him.</p><p>For the next several hours, Guy Diamond had company as his friends and family tried to distract him from the pain. He was exhausted by the time the time to push came. He felt the surge and began screaming. He was having a hard time staying calm. He was a terrified trolling. “It hurts!”</p><p>“I know my sweet boy. I need you to push. Listen to your body and do what it says, sweetheart. It’s almost over.” Goldie couched her son gently. She knew the final stretch was going to be the hardest for him. “Deep breaths, son. I’m so proud of you.”</p><p>Poppy had Guy Diamond’s hand and held it. She was being surprisingly brave. She didn’t want to upset Guy Diamond. He was stressed out enough.</p><p>Mercy shooed everyone except for Queen Lily out of the room, and then prepared to catch her great niece. She didn’t want anyone in her way when the baby was born. She was going to need immediate care. She gently spread Guy Diamond’s legs and checked him. “Baby is right here Guy. I see a patch of red hair. I need you to push with all your might.”</p><p>Guy Diamond grabbed his legs and pushed when his body urged him to do so. He could feel his daughter’s head as it crowned. He threw his head back when he felt his birthing site tear. He screamed in agony. “I can’t do it!”</p><p>“Easy does it Guy. I want you to take some breaths and push a little slower.” Goldie encouraged him as she wiped the sweat and tears off her son’s face. She looked down when she saw a tiny head from the corner of her eye. “She’s a pretty girl, son. Just the shoulders now, and then she’ll be born.”</p><p>“I know you can do it.” Poppy rubbed his shoulder. She looked down and smiled when she saw the baby’s head. “She’s pretty.”</p><p>Mercy used gentle traction to help Guy Diamond with his delivery. She knew he was very tired. She got the baby out and quickly cut her cord. She whisked her over to the room’s baby warmer. She began cleaning her up firmly to stimulate her.</p><p>The baby was a red glitter trolling. She had a pink nose and a light pink hair tip. She didn’t cry immediately. After some rough rubbing, she began letting out weak cries.</p><p>Guy Diamond watched as Mercy worked on his daughter. He had tears in his eyes. “Is she OK?!” He was a kid, but instincts told him that he needed to help and protect his daughter.</p><p>Goldie knew Mercy needed to focus on the baby, so she moved to Guy Diamond’s rear. She began working on stitching his tear. “She’s crying sweetheart. She has a fighting chance. You did a fantastic job. You earned a huge bowl of ice cream for all that hard work.”</p><p>“You did a good job.” Mercy got the baby stable, and then carried her over to her daddy. She gently gave her to him to hold. “What is her name?”</p><p>Poppy reached over and put her hand on the baby’s back. “She’s so little.”</p><p>“I’m going to name her Ruby.” Guy Diamond smiled down at her. He was exhausted and sore, but to him, she had been worth it. He was really glad that his baby was obviously not from Branch, even though she was still unpleasant to come by. She was obviously Racer’s daughter.</p><p>Queen Lily walked over and looked at her granddaughter. “Hi, Princess Ruby. I’m grandma Lily.” She beamed with pride. Ruby may not have been biologically her grandbaby, but to her, that didn’t matter.</p><p>Goldie finished fixing the tear, and then moved over to Guy Diamond’s head. She kissed his forehead. “I’m so proud of you.” She helped him set the baby up to nurse. When she didn’t latch, she worked with Guy Diamond to get some of the colostrum from his mammary glands, since it was incredibly important that Ruby get some due to being so severely premature. Once they got some colostrum, she gave it to her granddaughter, through a feeding tube. “She’s a fighter.” She was relieved to see her fighting to live. She wasn’t out of the woods yet, but Ruby was already proving to be as tenacious as her daddy.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0026"><h2>26. A Stressful Baby Boom</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>The rest of the victims of Tourmaline's attack have their babies.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>For the next few weeks, Guy Diamond showed that despite his age, he was willing to be a good father. An investigation over his daughter’s birth had caused quite a bit of stress for him and his family. A well intended social worker had tried to take him and Ruby away. She had tried to even split them up, but Bella and Faith quickly put an end to it all, after explaining the circumstances behind Guy Diamond’s conception and the birth of his daughter. After all that, he never let anyone else hold his baby or even touch her. Even his own mother and Poppy. He did everything for Ruby, and became extremely angry if anyone else touched her. He was very protective and didn’t want anyone taking Ruby away from him.</p><p>Goldie made sure that Ruby was getting the care she needed when Guy Diamond was asleep. It was tricky, since he was a light sleeper. She wanted to make sure that he got the rest he needed and that Ruby got the care she needed since she was so premature. It wasn’t easy and Guy Diamond often woke up in the middle of Ruby’s care. It caused a lot of tension between mother and son.</p><p>Also during that time, Tsunami gave birth to a son. He named him Bruce. He was dark teal and had royal blue hair, with a little bit of purple at the tip. Clover also surprised everyone, by giving birth in secret to a girl that looked just like Parsley that she named Carnation. They had hidden her pregnancy under baggy clothing, since Parsley was underage when she conceived her baby, just before he had left to get her engagement ring six months earlier. They were trying not to get in trouble. When Parsley got attacked and they found out she was pregnant, they refrained from saying anything. They ended up not getting in as much trouble as they thought. Faith was happy to be a grandma and although Shamrock wasn’t thrilled, he was glad that his own two month old son, Gage, would have a cousin that was the same age.</p><p>The next victim to go into labor was Poppy. Instead of stressing her out by taking her to the hospital, like they had with Guy Diamond, Goldie decided to prepare a room in her apartment just for the victims to have their babies. She had everything she needed in that room for any emergency. She also had several beds ready, knowing that all the victims could give birth at any time. When Lily came in with Poppy in her arms, Goldie led her to the room.</p><p>“She thought she had a stomach ache. She’s pushing!” Lily was shaking as she gently settled Poppy onto her feet. She held Poppy as her daughter clung to her. “I’ve got you, my sweet girl.”</p><p>Poppy hugged into her mama and screamed in pain as she pushed. She reached down and put her hand down there between contractions. “It hurts so badly!” She was trembling in fear and pain.</p><p>“I’ve got your baby sweetheart.” Goldie supported the baby so that it didn’t fall. “One more good push sweetheart.” She cringed when Poppy screamed in pain. She caught the newborn as he was born. She cleaned him up and gave him to Lily. She suddenly looked livid. The baby looked like Branch, except he had a pink nose like Poppy.</p><p>Lily wasn’t mad at all. She was relieved that the baby didn’t come from Tourmaline. She held her grandson in one arm, while hugging Poppy with her other arm. “Halfway there. You’re doing so well.”</p><p>Guy Diamond hurried in and arrived just in time to see the baby come out. He flushed with anger when he saw that the baby boy looked like Branch. “Told you what he did…”</p><p>Branch came in to investigate the scream. He saw the baby and suddenly felt dizzy. He almost instantly remembered what happened. Before anyone could react, he went tumbling to the floor. He had fainted.</p><p>Poppy looked over at Branch and frowned. “He fell…” She looked worried, but the expression didn’t last long. She screamed as she pushed for the second twin. She startled as the second twin came out. She bled from a tear.</p><p>Goldie had to focus on Poppy and her baby. She caught the twin as he was born. He was identical to the first twin. Once both cords were cut, she helped Poppy to a bed and got to work on stitching her closed. She gave the twins to Poppy when she was done and helped her set them up to nurse. “What are their names?”</p><p>Guy Diamond walked over and snuggled into Poppy. He pulled Ruby out of his hair and settled her on his chest. “Ruby, you have two little brothers.”</p><p>“I’m naming them Prince Peat and Prince Moss.” Poppy breathed hard and watched her sons as they nursed. She named them the first thing she could think of. She was so tired.</p><p>“I’m so glad that they came from Branch.” Lily ignored the sudden glares from Goldie and Guy Diamond. “I was so worried that those boys would end up with Tourmaline’s blood. I know it’s not ideal, but this was the best case scenario in my opinion…” She helped Branch up as he came to. She helped him sit down on a bed. “I know it’s a lot to take in Branch, however, I want to thank you. Your genes won, and for that, I owe you my gratitude.”</p><p>“She’s not the only one I was forced to mate with.” Tears ran down Branch’s cheeks. “Guy Diamond, Sky, and Parsley too…” He sniffled and rubbed his face of tears. He felt so ashamed.</p><p>“He made you mate with your own brother?!” Goldie clenched her fists, before walking over and hugging her husband. She had to remind herself that he was forced to do this. It wasn’t his fault. “Deep breaths my love…”</p><p>Sassafras came in with Paprika and Pepper in his arms. “Mom, I think my water just broke.” His pants were wet. He looked very nervous.</p><p>“Looks like your baby is coming too.” Lily took her twins and put them in her hair, before helping him into his own bed.</p><p>“Baby coming! Baby coming now!” Parsley came waddling in with his hand between his legs. He sobbed at the door frame. “I waited too long to come! It’s coming out!”</p><p>Goldie scrambled over to Parsley and pulled his pants down. She caught his baby as she made her grand appearance. She gently gave her to Parsley. “She looks just like her slightly older sister.”</p><p>“I’m sorry for waiting too long.” Parsley breathed hard and looked down at his daughter. “Clover is coming. She was feeding Carnation, when I told her I had to go.” He thought for a moment about a name. “I’m going to name her Sage.”</p><p>“It’s alright. Let’s get you settled and you can feed her.” Goldie led him to a bed and then made sure Sassafras settled alright.</p><p>Not long after Sassafras was settled, Sky, Mercy, Faith, Bella, and Hickory came in too. It was a full room, but it was also comforting to have all the victims in the same room as the rest of them endured labor.</p><p>A few hours later, Sassafras was the next to give birth. Just like his sister and brother in law, he tore as he had his daughter. Goldie quickly stitched him up while Mercy helped him set his baby up to nurse. He ended up naming her Destiny. She looked just like him, except she had the same colored nose that Parsley had. He silently hoped that Parsley was the daddy. He rather that be the case then anyone else.</p><p>Faith was the next to have her babies. She glared over at Sky when she gave birth to a girl that looked exactly like him. “I’m kicking your fucking ass!” She didn’t really mean it, but it annoyed her that her daughter wasn’t from Hickory. After a few more pushes, she had a girl that looked like Sky, but had her glitter and light green nose. “Damn fucking asshole made me have babies with someone other then my husband.” She grumbled as she set up her daughters to nurse. She sighed and watched them suckle. “I’ve decided to name them Cherish and Darling.” She glanced up at Mercy, who was cleaning up her mess. “Your husband is going to get castrated.”</p><p>“Rest little sister. You’ve had a long day.” Mercy smiled softly. She had a feeling Faith’s threats were empty promises. She didn’t want her husband to lose his manhood.</p><p>Sky looked horrified when Faith snapped at him and threatened him. He hoped that Mercy wouldn’t allow it. His attention turned away from her during his next contraction. He hollered in pain, before he began to push. He looked down when he felt Goldie’s hand on his birthing site. “I’m scared!” He was worried about his deformed daughter. He was expecting three newborn daughters. He hoped that his deformed daughter lived.</p><p>“I’ve got the first baby.” Goldie caught the deformed girl as she was born. She began cleaning her up. She was missing both arms, was albino, and had a cleft palate and lip. She feared that there might be internal problems as well, but the first priority was to get the little one crying. She smiled when she began to cry. “She’s alive Sky.” She gently gave her to him and got ready to catch the second triplet.</p><p>Sky looked at his daughter and sniffled. He had a feeling that she was from his brother. A thought that made him feel sick to his stomach. He whimpered and pushed for his second daughter. He yelped as she was born.</p><p>Goldie cleaned her up and settled her into Mercy’s arms. She was yellow, with royal blue hair. “Did Banana mate with you, Sky?”</p><p>“Yeah, Tourmaline forced him…” Sky sniffled and looked at Mercy. He felt so guilty for not telling her everything, but it still hurt. He breathed hard and began to push for the last baby.</p><p>“It’s alright. You’re doing so well.” Mercy encouraged him. She wasn’t mad.</p><p>Goldie got ready and caught the last girl as she was born. She was identical to the second triplet. “This one looks like she belongs to Banana too.”</p><p>Sky looked between his girls and sniffled. “Iris, Chrysanthemum, and Dandelion are their names.” Tears ran down his cheeks. He was so worried about Iris. With her cleft lip and palate, and missing arms, she was going to need special care. He hoped she didn’t have any other problems. He was a worried father.</p><p>As the night settled, the new parents fed and bonded with their babies. Iris ended up being tube fed, due to her facial deformity. It was decided that they would wait until she was older, before repairing her cleft palate and lip. She needed to grow and get stronger. Her future was uncertain, but they were going to try their best to make sure she survived into adulthood.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0027"><h2>27. Fighting Staring Eyes</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Tension builds when neighbors notice that Iris has physical malformations.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>For the next couple of weeks, Sky assured that Iris got the tests she needed to make sure that her physical problems were her only problems. After tests were run, he found out that her only problems were the cleft lip and palate, and the fact that she was born with no arms. It was not yet clear how well her sight would be due to her albinism, but that was a problem that Sky and Mercy decided they would take one day at a time. They had two older children with albinism, and both of them got along well, despite the fact that Yang was legally blind and Yin had to wear glasses.</p><p>During one morning, not long after her feeding, Iris spit up some of her milk. Something babies normally did occasionally. He cleaned her up and frowned when she began sneezing and sputtering. She had got the spit up in her nasal cavity. She wasn’t liking it one bit. She scrunched up her face and began crying loudly as she kicked her legs. She was an angry newborn.</p><p>Sky turned her so she was face down and patted her back. He began to tremble as he wrapped her in a warm blanket. He was worried that she may have breathed in some of the spit up due to the noises she was making. He looked at Yin and Yang. “I need you to babysit your sisters. I’ll be right back.” He hurried out the door with Iris. He headed straight for the clinic with his daughter. He was extremely worried.</p><p>Yin walked over to the cradle and looked down at Chrysanthemum and Dandelion. She smiled down at her newborn sisters. She was glad that Sky trusted them to babysit the newborns. “Daddy won’t be gone long. He panics easily. Mom will reassure him.”</p><p>Yang joined her side and rubbed Dandelion’s foot. He smiled when he felt Felicity’s hand as she tickled their sister’s toes too. “Be gentle.” He pushed Leaf away gently when she tried to pick Chrysanthemum up. “Not yet. She needs to be bigger and stronger.” He had a feeling they were going to have their hands full.</p><p>Sky quickly made his way to the clinic and moved Iris to his chest. The blanket began to slide down as he opened the door. He ignored curious eyes as he hurried to the back of the clinic. “Mercy! Iris spit up!”</p><p>Iris was calm by the time Sky got to the clinic. She had her violet colored eyes cracked open. She was a little raspy from spit up being up her nose, but she was otherwise alright.</p><p>Mercy took her and settled her down on a bed. She cleared her nose of the excess fluids and then showed the mucus extracting bulb to her husband. “We have one at home, my special. Use it next time. Her color is good, she’s breathing alright, and is aware of her surroundings. She’s just fine.”</p><p>Sky sighed in relief and looked up at Mercy. “Thank you. I’m sorry for panicking again.” He gently picked up Iris and rocked her. He suddenly burst into tears and began to cry. “I feel like I’m going to lose it, Mercy. I’m so stressed out.” He was having a hard time keeping calm. He felt at fault for the condition that Iris was in, even though it wasn’t his fault.</p><p>“Take some deep breaths, Sky. You’re a great father, and you’re doing a good job. I’ll be home in a few hours for lunch. Head home and rest between feedings. Let Yin and Yang help you. They’re old enough to babysit.” Mercy rubbed her husband’s back and dried his face of tears. She suspected he was suffering from minor postpartum depression. If it worsened, she planned to seek help for him. </p><p>“Alright…” Sky tucked Iris into his hair and then gave Mercy a kiss and a hug. “I love you. I’ll see you in a few hours.” He headed out the door.</p><p>Mercy kissed him back and watched him head out the door, before getting back to work.</p><p>Once Sky was outside, he was immediately confronted by a nineteen year old all baby blue glitter female troll. He tried to go around her, so he could go home. He was still sore from having his babies and didn’t feel like talking to anyone. He whimpered when he noticed that she was following him. “Please leave me alone.”</p><p>The young female got in front of Sky again. “Where is that baby you had?! What did you do to her?!” She made him stop and went to search inside his hair. She was worried about the safety of the baby that was with him. She had noticed that she had no arms.</p><p>Sky immediately went into defensive mode. He pushed her away and glared at her. “She’s in my hair. You’re not touching her!” He ran home as fast as his legs would allow. Tears ran down his cheeks. Although she may have been well intended, she had struck a nerve.</p><p>“Stop him! He’s hiding a baby! Something happened to her!” The female followed him. She was worried about the baby. She wanted to make sure she got somewhere safe, if her father had caused her injuries.</p><p>Sky was almost home when several trolls surrounded him. He sobbed as he backed into a light post. “Leave me alone!”</p><p>The female took Iris out of Sky’s hair and held her. “I’ve got you. It’s going to be alright.” She frowned, noticing her disabilities. They appeared to be congenital. She instantly realized she had been mistaken. “Oh…” She looked over at Sky. “I’m so sorry.” She gently gave Iris back to him. “My name is Horizon. I’m two months pregnant. I guess my maternal instincts kicked in.” She looked down. “I didn’t mean to frighten you or accuse you.”</p><p>The rest of the crowd looked at the baby with wide eyes. It was unusual to see a baby with so many congenital problems at the same time. They began to leave. Some of them whispered as they left. Some were saying that the apartment dwellers were full of freaks.</p><p>Iris let out loud, angry cries. She had been jarred around and had soiled her diaper.</p><p>Sky started having a panic attack when Horizon took Iris. He had tried to take her back, but was held back by well intended aids to Horizon’s calls. When he got his baby back, he held her tightly to his chest. He trembled as he checked her over. Her blanket had fallen to the ground, but at that moment, he was more worried about her. Tears ran down his cheeks as he snuggled with her. Horizon had frightened him and the words of his neighbors hurt. His past experiences didn’t help his mood.</p><p>“Oh, I’m so sorry.” Horizon picked up the blanket and tucked it around Iris. Tears started running down her cheeks. “Don’t listen to those bullies. She’s beautiful and is obviously loved.” She took a tissue out of her hair and dried his face.</p><p>“I’ll take care of him.” Branch came walking over and led Sky towards his apartment. He had come as fast as he could when he heard his brother’s sobs. He noticed that some of the neighbors were staring. “Mind your fucking business, all of you!” He snapped angrily, before he led his brother inside his apartment. He looked back and watched as Horizon walked away. He was glad she had stayed to comfort Sky. He remembered seeing her at the clinic before. He hoped to find her and thank her later for helping Sky. He was not yet aware that she was involved in Sky’s panic attack. He closed the door and checked Sky and Iris over. Once he was sure they were OK, he pulled Sky into a half hug. He held him as he cried over his shoulder. “I know, Sky. They shouldn’t be so mean.” He felt so bad. He felt at fault for his brother’s suffering. Iris was loved, but she shouldn’t have existed.</p><p>“I’m never leaving our home again.” Sky whispered as he cuddled with his twin. He was frightened and very upset. He didn’t want Iris to be ripped from him again. He had a feeling that might not be the only time that might happen. “They called us freaks.” </p><p>“They don’t understand.” Branch whispered as he led Sky to the couch. He sat down with him and Iris. He cuddled with them and watched Iris. He was so worried about her future. She was going to have to endure a world that didn’t understand. It was going to be difficult, but he was determined to help. She was probably his daughter after all. He had to do what it took to make sure she stayed safe.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0028"><h2>28. Family Helping Family</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Biggie, Hope, and Smidge invite Sky and Mercy to live with them, until things get a little easier for Sky.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>For the next couple of weeks, things continued to get worse for Sky. He realized that Chrysanthemum and Dandelion were deaf. All three of his newborn daughters had problems. He spiralled into depression. It was getting so bad that he wasn’t taking care of the triplets or himself anymore. He just wanted to lay in bed and do nothing. He felt like a failure as a father, even though he had done nothing to cause his daughters’ problems.</p><p>Banana visited often, to help with teaching the children sign language, and to help Sky with the babies, since he was clearly the father of two of the triplets. He even showed Yang how he could communicate with them, since his vision was so poor.</p><p>Branch was over often to help too. He had to be careful though, since he still had occasional seizures. He was on seizure medication to help control how often they came, but they hadn’t figured out the right regime for him yet, so he was still having them.</p><p>Mercy was trying her best to help and juggle work at the same time. It wasn’t easy for her either, but she refused to complain or ask for help. It was becoming clear that the problems at her home were wearing her out. She wasn’t herself at work. Goldie told her that she could handle the workload and that she wanted Mercy to go home and rest. Rest didn’t come at home though. She was providing for all seven of their children when they didn’t have visitors over to help.</p><p>Sky and Mercy’s struggles didn’t go unnoticed. Faith and Hope talked it over, and decided that they needed help. After a heavy debate, it was decided that Hope would let them move into her apartment, until Sky felt better. A decision that was mostly made by Mercy as well. Hope and Smidge were nearly three and a half months pregnant. Mercy wanted to be close, just in case either of them had problems with their pregnancies. Smidge had severe morning sickness that hadn’t gone away, so it was another reason for her to be watched closely.</p><p>As moving day approached, it took everything in Branch to try to convince his brother to get out of bed. Sky was refusing to get up for more than a few minutes to go to the bathroom. After talking to Mercy, Branch decided that during one of Sky’s bathroom breaks, they would remove the bed to get it over to Biggie’s home. While Branch had Sky in the bathroom, Branch trapped him in there and helped him get ready for a bath. “You need to bathe. You don’t want to feed the babies smelling like that.”</p><p>“I’m not good for them anyway.” Sky whispered as he settled down on the toilet again. He messaged his mammary glands. They were full of milk and one of them was very uncomfortable. He hadn’t fed the babies yet that morning. A task that Mercy had trouble getting him to do. She was constantly reminding him that the babies would do best suckling from him. He wasn’t as convinced. His mind had convinced him that his babies didn’t even need him.</p><p>“Nonsense! They need their daddy. Now, come on. Don’t make this hard for me. You know I won’t take no for an answer.” Branch pulled him off the toilet and nudged him towards the bath. He helped him out of his night shorts and gave him a washcloth.</p><p>Sky flushed when his brother removed his shorts. “Just because we saw each other naked at that godforsaken cave, doesn’t mean I want you seeing me naked now.” He covered himself with the cloth, before stepping into the tub. He wanted to get this done and over with, so he could crawl back into bed.</p><p>“Sky, you used to not be so modest. You know we’re the same, genetically. I see you everytime I look in the mirror.” Branch smiled softly. “Well, except lately I see you, with a missing arm and shoulder.” He set up a toothbrush and toothpaste for his brother. He gave it to him and smiled at him when he glared. “Your breath stinks. Brush them, before I pull them out.”</p><p>Sky gave him a horrified look. “You wouldn’t do that.” He sighed and began brushing his teeth, before Branch took that as a challenge.</p><p>“I wouldn’t test me, if I were you. I’m raising some very feisty and tenacious children.” Branch chuckled as he helped his brother bathe. He knew his brother had postpartum depression. He wanted to help him get through it. He was very protective. He frowned when he realized that one of his mammary glands was puffy and hot. “You have Mastitis. Why didn’t you tell us? You could get so sick. It could even kill you if it gets in your bloodstream...” He scolded as gently as he could, even though he was angry. He didn’t want to lose his brother. He gently began to clean his brother’s nipple, until puss free flowed and pressure was released.</p><p>“It was one more thing for Mercy to do. I didn’t want to burden her.” Sky glared at him and then screamed in pain when his brother fussed over his sore nipple. He looked up at him with wide eyes when he started feeling relief. “That hurt!”</p><p>“It would have hurt a whole lot worse if I didn’t see it and take care of it!” Branch snapped, before backing up. “God damn it…” He scrambled to get a medicine bottle out of his hair. He dropped it, before he started having a seizure on the bathroom floor.</p><p>Sky knew it was going to happen before it even started. He scrambled out of the tub and dried his hands off, before opening the bottle and grabbing one of the pills. He put the tiny pill inside Branch’s cheek and rubbed it, to help it get absorbed in his mouth. “I was hoping those wouldn’t be permanent.” He remembered when he had seizures. It was unpleasant and scary. He wished Branch didn’t have them too.</p><p>Mercy came into the bathroom and frowned when she saw Branch on the floor. “That’s the second one today. I’m going to ask him if he forgot his medicine this morning, when he wakes up.”</p><p>Branch slowly calmed down and cracked his eyes open. “Sorry…” He whispered. Those seizures wore him out. He hated that they hadn’t gone away. “I didn’t finish helping him with his bath.”</p><p>“You scared me.” Sky sighed and went back into the tub, before he got in trouble with his wife. “Mercy, Branch said I have mastitis.” He wasn’t going to hide that for Mercy any longer. He was in enough trouble with Branch.</p><p>“I’ll get you on some antibiotics, Sky.” Mercy didn’t look amused. It shouldn’t have gotten that bad in her opinion. She looked at Branch, before kneeling down. “Did you forget a dose of medicine recently?”</p><p>“I forgot to, before bed last night.” Branch admitted with a groan. “Tough lesson learned.” He rubbed the back of his head. He had banged it against the floor a few times.</p><p>“What am I going to do with you two?” Mercy sighed and shook her head. She helped Branch up and led him towards the couch, which was still in their apartment. She had him sit down, before grabbing a box and heading out the door with it.</p><p>Sky finished his bath and headed to the bedroom. He groaned when he noticed the bed was gone. He got dressed and went to the living room. He sat by Branch and snuggled with him. “I still feel like crap, but thank you for helping me out.”</p><p>“No problem, little brother. Let’s get you to Biggie’s, before they drag us there.” Branch got up and grabbed Sky’s hand. He led his twin towards the door and walked outside. He headed straight for Biggie’s, knowing that Sky wasn’t yet ready to face the outside world for long. He still had a long way to go before he would recover from the postpartum depression.</p><p>Sky looked down as he was led to Biggie’s apartment. He startled when Hope embraced him as he went inside. He hugged her back and broke down. “I’m a bad father...”</p><p>“No, you’re a great father. These things happen. You can’t help that the children came out with disabilities.” Hope reassured him gently. She knew it was bothering him a lot.</p><p>“Six of our seven children. Three albinos, one of which is legally blind, while the youngest suffers physical disabilities. We also have a dwarf and two deaf children. Leaf is our only child that didn’t lose the genetic lottery. I don’t know what I did wrong.” Sky sniffled and buried his face into his hands. He knew it had to be his fault. He was the father of all six of the sickly children. “This is why we decided not to have more children. It’s why I had a tubal ligation! I told Branch to remove my pod when I had Leaf, but he refused…” He shot a glare at his brother.</p><p>“Sky, I have kids, and they’re healthy. Moon and Luna are the only ones that have albinism, along with being chemiras. They’re just fine and so are your children. Banana’s genes were the actual cause of Chrysanthemum and Dandelion’s deafness. Something that is manageable and survivable.” Branch reassured his brother. He knew he was struggling with genetics. They both clearly carried the genes for albinism and they were related as second cousins to Smidge, which was why dwarfism ran in their family.</p><p>“God wanted you to have those babies, because he knew you would be a good daddy to them. Yang, Yin, Felicity, Iris, Chrysanthemum, and Dandelion know love. That is the way it should be. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.” Hope ran her hand through Sky’s nearly black hair. Neither him or Branch had restored their colors. They were the only victims that hadn’t regained colors yet.</p><p>Sky wasn’t convinced, but wanted them to drop the subject. He put his hand on Hope’s belly. “I heard you’re having twins.”</p><p>“Yeah, there’s two of them inside me. Biggie says twins run on his side of the family.” Hope smiled at Sky. She was alright with the subject change. She didn’t want to push Sky any further than he already had been. He was clearly stressed and not feeling well. “Come on, let’s go eat.” She led him towards the kitchen. She could hear his stomach growling. She wasn’t going to let him crawl into bed and sulk. She planned to have him help her. An excuse to get him back on his feet.</p><p>Branch followed them into the kitchen to help. He was glad that Hope seemed to be forcing him to help. He needed encouragement and love.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0029"><h2>29. Tension Between Lovers</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Confusing circumstances causes more tension between Sky and his family.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>For the next two months, Sky slowly got better. He was back to tending to his babies and was helping with the other children. He seemed to be on the mend. He even took the triplets out on walks. He ignored curious eyes as they tried to get a peek at Iris. He knew there was nothing they could do for her arms, but there was something they could do for her mouth. She was scheduled for surgery in a month, to repair her cleft lip and palate.</p><p>Mercy had been putting on a steady amount of weight. She thought at first it was from all the stress. That thought left her mind one night, when she was in bed with Sky. She had awakened to a puddle under her rear. She inspected it and noticed it was consistent with birthing fluids. She put her head back in the bed and sighed heavily. Once again, she didn’t know she was pregnant, until the baby was ready to arrive. She gently checked herself and noticed that she wasn’t close yet. She shifted in bed and laid on her side away from the puddle. She pulled a teddy bear that laid with them in their bed to her chest and held it. She closed her eyes and slowly dozed off, knowing she would need her strength for pushing.</p><p>Mercy didn’t wake up again for another couple of hours. A strong contraction woke her up. She hugged the bear and closed her eyes tightly. She thought of waking Sky up. He had only seen Yin born of their three children. She thought perhaps he would like to see this one born too. She looked over at him and noticed he was still sleeping soundly. She thought against waking him yet. Surely one of the triplets would wake him up soon for a feeding. He could watch the birth after they were tended to. For another half an hour, she breathed through contractions. She looked over when Iris began to cry. Her sisters joined her moments later. Mercy was in no condition to tend to them. “Sky, wake up dear. I know it’s my shift to take care of them tonight, but I can’t do it. I’m busy...”</p><p>Sky groaned and stretched out. He looked over at Mercy and frowned when he realized she had said she couldn’t tend to the triplets. It wasn’t like her to admit she couldn’t do things. “Are you alright?”</p><p>“I’m fine. Tend to our babies.” Mercy shifted and checked herself. She frowned when she felt a foot between her legs. “Before you do, call Goldie here.” She rested her head back and held back crying in pain.</p><p>Sky suddenly looked alarmed. He shifted the blanket out of the way and frowned when he saw that Mercy was bloody between the legs, and a tiny light teal foot was sticking out of her. He flushed with anger. “Who’s child is this?! I can’t have babies like this anymore!”</p><p>“Sky, now is not the time to argue with me! I’m giving birth!” Mercy snapped angrily. “Get Goldie, now!” She bared down to push. She startled when the second leg came out. She let out a groan. This birth wasn’t as easy for her as the others. Tears threatened, not only due to the pain, but also due to Sky’s words. She would never cheat on Sky, and as far as she was concerned it was still possible for them to have children. It was just unlikely. She had a feeling contraceptives had failed about six months earlier.</p><p>Sky hurried to the phone and grabbed it. He dialed Goldie’s phone number, before carrying the phone over to Mercy’s side. He saw that the baby was a girl. Half of her was still inside of Mercy.</p><p>Branch answered the phone. “Hello? It’s four in the morning…” He grumbled crankily.</p><p>“Mercy is having a baby. I need you and Goldie here, now!” Sky hung up the phone and then got ready to help Mercy deliver the baby. “Push Mercy…”</p><p>“Get the arms. Gently sweep inside me until you feel an arm. When you find it, gently pull it down. Do the same with the other arm. I might tear, but don’t pay any attention to that. We need to get her out!” Mercy grasped the side of the bed as she carefully shifted so that gravity would help her and the baby. She squatted near the bed and pushed while Sky tried to find the baby’s arms.</p><p>Sky did as Mercy told him to. He cringed when she tore and screamed as the shoulders were released. Mercy had a huge pain tolerance, so to hear her scream in pain told him that this birth was very painful for her.</p><p>“Is everything alright in here? Hope and Smidge are in labor...” Biggie came in. He could hear the babies crying, and didn’t like that Mercy had screamed. His eyes went wide when he saw that Mercy was in labor herself. His eyes rolled back, before he tumbled to the floor. He had fainted.</p><p>“Get Goldie!” Mercy startled when Biggie fainted. “Great…” She checked her baby’s neck to make sure the cord wasn’t around her neck. She bared down and pushed again for the head. She caught her daughter as she was born. She put her to her chest and struggled to stand. She was bleeding from her tear and felt wobbly. She settled her baby on the bed, before leaning back. She was about to fall over from being so weak.</p><p>Sky helped her up and settled her on the bed. He helped clean the baby and looked her over. She looked like him, except she had Mercy’s light yellow hair. He looked so confused. “I had a tubal ligation…”</p><p>“Sky! Stop fussing over how she was conceived and help me save her! She’s not breathing!” Mercy felt overwhelmed and exhausted. She rubbed her daughter’s back. When she didn’t start to cry, she flicked her foot several times. She ignored the fact that she was bleeding. Her baby needed her.</p><p>The newborn finally started to cry when her mama flicked her foot. She let the whole neighborhood know that she didn’t like that one bit.</p><p>Sky helped clean her. Once the baby was crying, he tended to his triplets. He wasn’t sure what to do or say. He didn’t think that her baby was his. He felt betrayed.</p><p>Goldie came in and sighed when she saw the baby in Mercy’s arms. “I told you that you were pregnant, but you never listen to me.” She helped Biggie up to his feet and frowned when she heard Hope scream in pain. “Biggie, I need you to get Rose and Ginger. I have a feeling that I’m going to need help.” She patted his back as he left, before turning to Mercy. She saw a lot of blood. “Let me see.” She checked for tears. She saw a massive one. She got her sutures out and began stitching Mercy closed.</p><p>Branch had followed, but when he heard Hope scream, he went to go investigate. He wasn’t going to be able to catch babies, but he could help couch the nervous mother.</p><p>Sky saw his brother. He followed him with Iris latched on and nursing. He got in front of him and stopped him. “Branch, did you mate with Mercy?”</p><p>“Hell no!” Branch fused his brows. Sky was lucky that he had Iris in his arms. He wanted to smack him around. “What makes you think that?!”</p><p>“The baby looks like you, but with yellow hair.” Sky crossed his arms. He wasn’t amused at all.</p><p>“That’s because she came from you. We’re identical twins, remember?” Branch shook his head and went into Hope, Smidge, and Biggie’s bedroom. Sky had acted strange since having his triplets, but to accuse Mercy of cheating was over the top. She was his wife and she was fiercely loyal.</p><p>“I had a tubal ligation!” Sky snapped angrily as he followed his twin. “You gave it to me! You know I had it!”</p><p>“I chickened out and sewn you up before I cut anything other than skin! You’re not sterile! I didn’t want to face Mercy’s wrath! You had babies with Faith for crying out loud! You know I didn’t mate with her!” Branch sneered at his brother, before looking at Hope. “Deep breaths Hope. I’ll walk you through this if I have to. Mercy just had a baby and is getting help right now. Sorry about Sky. He’s being an ass…”</p><p>Hope was holding Smidge’s hand and breathing hard. She was scared that she would lose her twins. They were a little early. She shot a glare at Branch and Sky. She was going to have a heated discussion with them, later.</p><p>Smidge was snuggled up with Hope. She shot a glare at Sky and Branch. “Stop fighting! We’re in labor…”</p><p>Sky’s eyes went wide. He had been arguing with Faith about Cherish and Darling. He didn’t think her twins were his. Now their existence made sense. He sighed and backed up. “Sorry Hope and Smidge.” He left the room. He wanted to apologize to Mercy for assuming. He realized he was wrong. He went into the room and set Iris up to burp. “Mercy? I realized Branch didn’t give me a tubal ligation after all. I’m so sorry.”</p><p>“You have a lot of nerve, accusing her of cheating.” Goldie glared at her brother in law. She was helping Mercy nurse her newborn, while she also fed Dandelion. “She lost a lot of blood. You should have put pressure on her tear. She could have died, Sky! I just gave her some of my blood to save her!”</p><p>Chrysanthemum had calmed down but was fussy. She was waiting to be fed. She had learned that she wasn’t always the first to be fed. Her parents rotated so it was fair for all three of the triplets.</p><p>“We’ll discuss this later, Sky.” Mercy was weak and hated that she was too weak to go help her sister. She could hear Hope’s groans and whimpers. “I should be helping Hope.” She finished feeding her newborn. She put her on her lap and then settled Dandelion over her shoulder. She burped her and then tucked her into her hair. She did the same with the newborn. “I’m naming her Jubilee.”</p><p>Sky had a guilty look on his face as he put Iris in his hair. He set Chrysanthemum up to nurse and watched her suckle. He wasn’t sure what else to do. He realized he had messed up.</p><p>Ginger, Rose, and Biggie soon arrived and went to help Hope and Smidge. The apartment was busy as they awaited for the arrival of Smidge and Hope’s babies. Smidge was the first to give birth. She had a dwarf sized version of Biggie. She named her newborn daughter Dot.</p><p>Rose wasn’t in the room. She was having a long talk with her boys in another room. She had learned about what had happened during Mercy’s birth and right after.</p><p>Hope was terrified that she wouldn’t be able to get her twins out alive. When her time to push came, she hugged into Biggie. She was on her knees as she pushed hard. Tears ran down her cheeks as she reached down to touch the first baby’s head. She could feel the little one wriggle a little between contractions. “I’m in so much pain!” She screamed as she pushed for the shoulders.</p><p>Biggie held his wife and cried when she screamed. He hated seeing his wives in pain. “You can do it, my love.”</p><p>Mercy was in there. She was on a recliner so she could be there for support. She made Sky move the recliner into their room. She had Jubilee on her chest. “You’re doing so well Hope!”</p><p>“He’s ready to cry. That face looks angry.” Ginger mused. She had a feeling that these babies were going to be sweet though. Hope and Biggie were a couple of the sweetest trolls in the city.</p><p>Goldie caught Hope’s son as he was born. She began cleaning him up. “Looks just like his mama.”</p><p>The newborn was light yellow glitter, just like his mama. He was a big boy though and appeared to have his father’s tall genes. He cried as his auntie cleaned him up.</p><p>Hope looked back and gasped when her son began to cry. “He’s alive! Oh my god, he’s alive…” She began sobbing. She hugged into Biggie and buried her face into his chest. “We have a son…” She gave a good push for the twin. She whimpered in pain. She wanted this to be over with, but there was one more that needed to be born.</p><p>“You’re doing great my love. Push for his sister.” Biggie held her and smiled. He was glad that her baby was alive and seemed to be well. </p><p>“Looks like this one is coming head first like a good girl. She’s coming fast too. Easy does it, breathe steadily, and give small pushes. I don’t want her born too quickly. You’ll tear...” Goldie caught Hope’s daughter as she was born. She began cleaning her up. </p><p>The newborn had dark blue glitter with light yellow hair and a light yellow nose. She cried as Goldie cleaned her up.</p><p>“Well done!” Ginger got up and walked over to Hope. She gave her a drink of water and helped her settle on her bottom in front of Biggie. “Look at what you did. You created them with your husband. I’m so proud of you.”</p><p>Hope breathed hard and smiled up at Biggie. “We had a boy and a girl. I want to name them Zen and Love.”</p><p>Smidge moved closer and snuggled with Hope. “They’re so cute.”</p><p>“As you wish, my love.” Biggie kissed her gently and rubbed her shoulders. “You both did a great job this morning.”</p><p>Goldie helped Hope set her babies up to nurse. It had been a busy morning, but four new lives had joined their family. It had been worth getting up so early. She looked forward to watching them all grow up.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0030"><h2>30. Spicy Iris</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Iris proves that she is a feisty trolling, despite her disabilities.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>For the next month, Sky spent most of his time trying hard to gain Mercy’s forgiveness. He knew it was going to take time. He had really messed up by accusing her of cheating. He helped care for the children and made her favorite foods. He didn’t want to be in the dog house forever. She was slowly warming back up to him. She knew he had been confused that morning when Jubilee was born. She told him that she was pretty sure she understood why he had been so upset. She asked for him to communicate. It was important for their relationship.</p><p>It was time for Iris to have her surgery. Sky didn’t feed her all morning, so her stomach was empty for the surgery. The little one wasn’t amused and let the whole neighborhood know that she was uncomfortable while her daddy carried her in his hair to the hospital. She was having her cleft lip and palate repaired at the hospital, so that it could be done by specialists, along with Goldie. Mercy wanted to help, but Goldie made her stay with Faith, since she was only a month out of having Jubilee. She needed a little more time to heal. As they arrived at the hospital, Iris was taken by Goldie and carried back to have her surgery. Iris’ loud cries were heard all over the hospital. The little one wasn’t a happy camper.</p><p>Horizon had heard the baby cries and followed Sky as he walked to the hospital. They had become good friends the last four months. She had her newborn daughter with her. She sat next to Sky and Mercy, before she pulled her two day old daughter out of her hair. Goldie had delivered her. She was a rainbow glitter trolling. She had splotches of pink, red, orange, green, blue, and violet on her skin and face. “I named her Jelly Bean. You can call her Jelly. Rich is so happy with her. He said he always wanted a girl.” She settled her daughter on her chest. “I was worried I wouldn’t be able to come for moral support. I hope Iris has a successful surgery.”</p><p>“She’s a tough cookie. She’ll be just fine.” Mercy sat by Horizon and looked the newborn over. “Jelly Bean is beautiful. Her name suits her. She looks a lot like Rich, with glitter.” She took Jubilee out of her hair. “Your friend was born. I want you to take good care of her.” She looked up at Horizon. “We should plan playdates. The triplets would love to play with her too.”</p><p>Sky looked nervous. He barely paid attention to Mercy and Horizon as they fussed over the babies. He got up and began to pace. He was scared that Iris would die during the surgery. He loved her to pieces and was so protective of her.</p><p>Horizon watched Sky pace. She smiled at Mercy and nodded. “I would love to set up playdates.”</p><p>It took several hours to repair Iris’ mouth. When the surgery was over, she was moved to a hospital room, to stay there for the night. As she woke up, the four month old began to fuss and cry. She didn’t like that she was in so much pain. She was also hungry and wanted her triplet sisters.</p><p>“I know sweetheart. I’m so sorry. At least now you can eat without getting food stuck up your sinus cavity.” Sky caressed Iris’ cheek soothingly. He chuckled when she turned her head and tried to latch to his finger. “Not yet, sweetheart. You need to wake up a little more before you eat.” He was so glad that she was awake, hungry, and angry. It was a great sign. She appeared to be on the road to recovery.</p><p>“She’s making her opinion known. She is definitely her fathers’ daughter. I think she’s going to be just fine.” Branch reached over and ran his hand through Iris’ hair. They were certain she was their child now. A few tests on genetics pointed that she shared their genes. She was the only known case of identical twin incest, so she was making history. Branch was typing out a book on a typewriter about it. It was keeping his mind preoccupied, since he could no longer work as a doctor. He decided he would become an author. He had to keep busy for his sanity.</p><p>Mercy watched Branch and Sky as they fussed over Iris. They were still gray. She had a feeling they had a long way to go, before they were going to be happy enough to restore their colors. She even thought perhaps they might not restore their colors until after they were certain that Tourmaline was dead. He was still on the loose. She had a feeling none of the victims were going to relax until justice was served. She hoped that justice would be found soon. The thought of Tourmaline being out there made her feel uneasy. She wanted her family safe.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>That’s the end of part 3 of “Medical Diaries.” Part 4 is planned and is coming soon!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
</body>
</html>